Author's Notes: This was requested from me on Tumblr, so I wrote it. Exactly what it says on the tin and, as always, I'd love to know what you think.
Ianto tapped his foot impatiently as the conference room slowly filled with people. He hadn't expected so many of them, given how small Torchwood Two and Three were, and he had never really realised just how enormous One was, despite the fact that he wandered into whichever department he liked all the time.
"Jones!" He flinched when Yvonne appeared by his side. "Are you ready?" He nodded and wordlessly showed her the report he was holding. "Good. We're just waiting for them to settle down and then I want you to start. Straight and to the point, please; we've got a lot to discuss."
"Yes, Ma'am," he answered promptly, but his mind wasn't on the annual report at all.
His arm was itching. It had felt a bit odd every since last night, but now it was getting downright uncomfortable and it was taking his attention off the work he was supposed to be doing and being the Head Archivist along with the Director's part-time personal assistant – and having to talk about an entire year of aliens in front of more than a thousand people – was stressing enough as it was.
"Calm down, will you?" Lisa, from her place as the HR leader next to him, shot him a small smile. "You look like you might explode."
Ianto lowered his head until he was sure that no one was going to hear him speak. "My arm is killing me."
Lisa sighed. "Lucky you. God knows when I'll meet my guy."
They'd had a brief affair for several months. Nothing serious, of course, given that each of them had names carved into their lower arms, but they were still close and they shared everything with each other. Which was why Ianto knew that the name – written in bright red on Lisa's right arm – was Tim, just like his own – in sky blue – was Jack.
Except not really, because Ianto had been able to read it since he'd got his hands on Torchwood's technology for translations. The name was something that resembled English in calligraphy, but with a lot more details to it and nobody had been able to tell him what it was. He'd laughed wholeheartedly when he'd finally managed to translate it. Jack. Who knew that such a mundane name could be written in some strange, futuristic language (or at least, that was what Ianto had assumed it to be)?
And here he was now, and he'd read enough of the guides and knew enough from what his sister had told him to know that if your arm started itching like that, then your soulmate was close. But who could it be? With the way it had been written, Ianto assumed that whoever Jack was, he had to be special. Was there an alien in disguise in the room? All of a sudden, after twenty years of living with that name on his arm, Ianto was filled with dread. What if his soulmate was an alien?
"If I can have your attention, please." Ianto snapped out of the train of thought that had been quickly making its way to panic station and gripped the report all the tighter as he stood up along with the director of the Institute. "Welcome to the Annual Inter-Institute Torchwood meeting. Seeing as all our leaders are present, I think we can begin." There was a murmur of agreement around the table and she gave a quick smile that soon turned into a glare directed at the other end of the table where a man in a long, dark blue coat was fidgeting in his seat. Ianto could sympathise perfectly. If there was one single thing he wanted to do right now, it was shouting 'is there a Jack in this room?' from the top of his lungs just so the torment could be over. Much to his misfortune, he knew for a fact that among One's 948 employees there were at least three Jacks. "Excellent. This year the report will be read by our new Head Archivist, Ianto Jones. Ianto?"
"Yes, thank you," he said, trying to keep the impersonal smile for as long as possible. "Now, the most pressing matter today is–"
"Wait a second." The man in the blue coat had stood up and Yvonne gritted her teeth.
"Any discussion can wait!" She snapped, but he didn't seem intimidated.
"It's really important–" He started and Yvonne waved him off.
"Yes, Harkness, we all know how important your input is on meeting such as this one. The best way you can contribute to it is by keeping it down until we're done. Jones, go on."
"Like I was saying," Ianto started again, hesitantly, "The most pressing matter right now is the increased percentage of Weevil sightings all around the country and–"
"Ianto? Your name is Ianto, right?" He wasn't giving up. Ianto tried to look as amiable as possible and smiled.
"Yes, Sir. And you would be?" When the man just kept staring at him as if he'd been struck by lightning, Ianto started getting uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, I've been working here for half a year and I haven't memorised all the names yet." He connected the name 'Harkness' with Three's leader mostly because Yvonne talked about him all the time – and not necessarily good things – but he couldn't see what he would want from him.
"Sorry if this is a bit personal, but can you show me your name?"
There were muttered disapprovals all around the room and a woman by Harkness side said loud enough for everyone to hear, "This is a bit much even for you, Jack'. It was considered something you kept in private unless you wanted to share it and showing it to Harkness in front of the entirety of Torchwood in Britain would be as bad as getting his clothes off as they watched him.
Wait a second.
Had she just called him Jack?
And suddenly, Ianto felt very, very slow. Captain Jack Harkness was the name – he'd seen it in the files, even though it was suspected that Jack was the only real name from those. The fact that the man had been twitching just as much as Ianto himself. The proximity had made it obvious, but he'd been too stressed out to see it.
Ianto's cufflinks were undone before he could take a breath and he dropped them on the table in front of him just as the man made his way around the people in the room and to him. Everyone was quiet now, but most of them were looking away. It was something terribly personal and Ianto would have really liked getting it outside the conference room if he had to check if he was right. Apparently, Harkness thought the same.
"Can we–" He started and Yvonne nodded her approval even before she'd heard what he had to say. Of course she would. Everything was acceptable in a moment like this one.
Ianto felt himself being taken by the hand and then dragged outside; the man rolling up his sleeves as soon as the door slammed closed. "Show me," he said urgently and the younger man nodded, already mirroring his actions.
And there it was. His own name written I sky blue over Harkness's – Jack's – arm, and Ianto was smiling like an idiot and couldn't help himself.
"You know," Jack started quietly. "When I was born with this name, no one understood what it meant. I thought there was something wrong with me. And then, when I could read it, I thought, what kind of name is Ianto? Do you know how many Iantos there are in Wales? I've been looking for so long, and their arms always said some nonsense like Rhydian or Megan and I thought–"
And then, because he was ridiculously happy, and because he wanted to shut him up, Ianto kissed him.