Ianto strode into the Hub at a quarter to 10, shrugging off his jacket, tossing it at the nearest post, and rolling up his sleeves. "Morning," he called out buoyantly. "I'd go down on a weevil for a coffee right now," he said, jogging up the stairs.
Gwen, Tosh, and Owen just stared at Ianto, wondering just how much time Jack and Ianto were spending together. Jack stepped out of his office, giving Ianto a strange look. "Go down on a weevil?" he muttered.
"I really don't want to know what the two of you get up to," Owen said, shaking his head.
Jack forced the requisite waggling brows but went to check on Ianto. "Hey," he said, finding Ianto in the meeting room with his feet up on the table. "Everything ok?"
"Yeah, great. Just waiting for the juice to kick in," Ianto grinned.
"Ok…," Jack said, at a loss. "I, um, called a couple times last night."
"Oh yeah. I was just… occupied."
Jack gave Ianto a questioning look. "Hey… isn't that the tie you had on yesterday?"
Ianto loosened his tie. "Didn't have time to -"
"And that is not your cologne. Yan, were you… did you…?"
Ianto just grinned over his coffee.
Jack was gobsmacked, to say the least. Since when did his Ianto go out on the pull…?
"Probably should have invited you along, you'd have loved it. He had a Prince Albert and it was…. Ok, what's with the codfish look?"
Jack snapped his mouth shut. "Ianto… you…."
Ianto shrugged with a grin. "Hey, not fair keeping this rationed, is it?"
Again, Jack was without words. He knew Ianto was a lot more adventurous than those immaculately tailored three-piece suits let on, but this… this just didn't seem like Ianto. Insanely hot as the thought of Ianto picking up somebody – with a Prince Albert, no less - was… something wasn't right.
Eventually Jack just nodded and said, "ok, well… gotta check something with Tosh, so…." Jack's eyes went wide when Ianto groped his arse as he walked by.
"Tosh, anything unusual with the rift in the last 12 hours or so?" Jack asked curiously.
Tosh shook her head. "No, Jack. It's been calm. Nothing since a few days ago."
"When that bit of chain… whatever it was, came through," Jack said more than asked.
"It was a ring," Ianto said, coming down the stairs, his voice much more confident and clearer than usual.
"It was what?"
"A ring, Jack. Not even convinced it was space junk," Ianto said, leaning against Tosh's workstation and sipping his coffee. "It was a fairly basic Renaissance design. Rather common at festivals now."
"Yeah, except this one was made from hyper-endotitanium, which shouldn't be found anywhere in this solar system for about 6000 years."
Ianto shrugged and headed off toward the archives.
"Ianto, wait!" Tosh called. "Does that mean you've solved it?"
"Yeah. Piece of piss," Ianto said over his shoulder, not breaking his stride.
"What's up with teaboy?" Owen asked, emerging from the operating theatre. "Seems like Jack finally found that stick up -"
"Owen, how about doing a… brunch run?" Jack suggested brightly.
"Thought that was more Ianto's job description," Owen grumbled.
"Not at the moment," Jack grinned.
"Once again, I really don't want to know what goes on in that file room," Owen reiterated.
"Jack… we didn't think it did anything as a chain. Maybe it had to be put together to be activated," Tosh guessed.
"I get the feeling that's the case," Jack said, heading to the archives to find Ianto.
"Ianto!" Jack called out.
"What?" Ianto shouted back from a far corner of the room.
"About that chain ring…."
"Puzzle ring. 'S on the desk. Really don't think it's much of anything. Hardly worth cataloguing."
Jack stared. "Ianto, you catalogue everything. I've never known anyone who catalogued anything more than you."
"Just a random bit of junk," Ianto shrugged.
Jack turned to Ianto's desk to have a closer look at the ring now that Ianto had it put together and he realized Ianto's desk was no longer neat-as-a-pin but covered in files and papers already. Ianto's coffee mug was even making rings on the folder at the top of the stack, something Ianto routinely chided Jack for.
Jack almost jumped when he felt Ianto's hand stroke his hip.
"Any ideas about what to do with it?" Ianto asked in a sex-heavy voice. "Unfortunately, it's a bit too small to do anything really fun with."
Jack swallowed hard as Ianto's hand snaked forward and rubbed Jack's thigh. He took a long, stuttering breath when Ianto's lips found the pulse-point of Jack's neck. Finally Jack couldn't resist anymore. He turned and grasped Ianto in a tight embrace and a starving kiss. For months he'd been waiting for Ianto to feel comfortable enough to make a first move, and now Ianto was practically stripping him right there in the Torchwood 3 archives while they strove for control of the kiss.
Ianto reached behind Jack to shove papers off his desk while pushing Jack back. Jack could feel how hard Ianto was as he pushed himself back against Ianto. It was one of the hottest moments Jack could imagine. So when he broke the kiss and held Ianto off a bit, he felt like he was being the biggest fool that side of Andromeda.
"I really need to check out that ring."
Ianto fixed Jack with an incredulous look.
"I know. Later, I promise." Jack spotted the intricate ring on Ianto's desk and pocketed it quickly.
"I'm leaving an hour early," Ianto said. "If you aren't in my bed by 5, I'll be forced to seek satisfaction elsewhere…."
"Well, if you do, invite me!" Jack said, unable to help it.
"Alright, Tosh. Second opinion on this?" Jack said, setting the ring beside her keyboard.
"Sure, Jack. Any precautions?"
"I don't think it's dangerous," Jack said. "That doesn't mean I think it's entirely harmless, though."
Tosh nodded in understanding and set to work. After about half an hour, she was shaking her head in frustration and called for Jack.
"I think we've got it wrong, Jack. I still can't get any kind of reading from this at all. Unless it's something completely new to us, but I can't -"
Just then a screen on one of the monitors flashed an alert that a signal was picked up.
"Unbelievable. I had that monitor on it the entire time and it was dead…."
Jack crossed his arms thoughtfully. Tapping his ear-piece, he asked Ianto to come up for a minute. "I'll be right back, Tosh," Jack said, running back up to his office.
Within seconds, Jack heard her (subdued) cry of frustration. "It's gone off again, Jack!" Tosh shouted. After a few moments, though, Tosh exclaimed, "And it's back now!"
Jack looked up to see Ianto walking into the main workspace of the hub and he nodded to himself. Ianto jogged up the stairs to Jack's office and Jack waited to hear Tosh's confirmation of his suspicion – "Gone again, Jack! I think this thing's mad."
"What's up, Jack?" Ianto asked.
Jack grinned. "How much do you like me?" he asked Ianto.
"You really called me up here for that?" Ianto asked dubiously. "If you'd stayed around a little longer earlier, you'd have found out. And you will find out tonight," Ianto grinned.
Jack crossed his arms. "Well, it's kind of important that I know. See… we are currently half-married."
Ianto laughed. "Don't you think that's a little quick, Jack? Might be nice if you asked first…. You know, romantic evening, nice dinner… good bottle of my favorite wine before popping that question."
"Yeah, except you're the one that's half-married to me."
Ianto stood with his hands on his hips. "Well, it typically goes both ways,"
"But you've got the only ring. The one you put together. I didn't recognize it until I saw how it was working. See, Tosh wasn't getting any reading on it at all until I was in proximity to it. Then it fired up again when you were around it. And, Ianto… you're acting a lot like me today. That means it's out of balance. If I had the other one, we'd be perfectly normal. Or if I was the one who'd solved it, I'd be acting like you. Which could be kind of interesting."
"Jack…," Ianto said slowly. "What bullocks are you talking?"
"I remember one of our Agents had one. I don't remember what planet it was from, but he was married there on holiday and they got these rings. He explained that if he took his off for too long, he'd start acting like his wife. And vice-versa. It was supposedly a way to keep spouses faithful, knowing they wouldn't be able hide the change in their personality. He lost his left arm shortly before I quit the Agency, ring, wrist-strap, and all. It wasn't pretty... though he was."
"But I haven't put it on," Ianto said.
"But you did put it together. So, my guess is by doing that you formed a bond. And since you haven't had it on… you're acting like me. So… I'm further guessing that if you put it on, you'll be good, old Ianto again."
Ianto looked at Jack for a long moment then went down to Tosh's station and picked up the ring. He glanced up to Jack's office before shrugging and trying the ring on. "I don't know about this. I generally don't care much for jewelry," Ianto muttered. "Cold in here," he said, pushing his sleeves down and buttoning the cuffs. "Bloody creases," he grumbled, tugging at the sleeves.
Jack watched from his office as Ianto fussed with his shirt before glaring at his suit coat slung over a railing. That clinched it, then. They were half-married…. Jack found himself feeling unaccountably disappointed that it only went one way.
Several minutes later, Jack got a sharp ringing in his ear when Ianto shouted over the comms:
"Jack bloody Harkness! What the hell happened down here?!"
Jack cringed and hurried down to the archives to help Ianto sort the mess that had been Ianto's workspace.
"So…," Jack said, putting away the last of the files, "still thinking of knocking off early?"
"Of doing what? Are you mad, Jack? I've lost nearly a day's work down here."
"Right, yeah. It's just… earlier, when you weren't wearing that… you kinda threatened - or was it promised? – that if I wasn't in your bed by 5 sharp you were going out on the pull."
"On the pull? Jack, have you any idea when the last time I pulled was?"
"You could, no challenge at all!" Jack insisted.
Ianto rolled his eyes. "Why am I wearing this hideous thing anyway? I don't do jewelry." Before Jack could stop him, Ianto tugged off the puzzle ring and set it on his (now-tidy) desk. With a deep breath, Ianto turned to Jack. "I don't know about you, but I think we've had a fair day's work. Couple drinks, maybe a bite, back to mine and see how the night goes?"
Jack wanted to laugh at the transformation. There was no doubt about how that ring was working on Ianto. It couldn't possibly hurt him, though… so Jack decided – just for the night – to enjoy the benefit of Ianto Jones' newfound sex drive.