A/N; Hello there, thanks for coming in. I wish I could explain this to you – it was part of a series of smaller fics but it vetoed my decision and decided to become a, (short), fic in it's own right.
Disclaimer; I do not own or profit from the characters or the universe they belong to. In fact I don't own or profit from any universe.. Yet.
Summary; With Jack, everything becomes a game. With Ianto, it's more of a grudge match.
It wasn't the first time he'd seen him do it, in fact if he thought about it he realised it had been going on for months. Before they left the hub, Ianto always went back to check.. something. Only in the most immediate of emergencies would he leave it, and even then Jack could see it bothered him. It wasn't like it interfered with his work, but just before they ran out there was a moment, barely visible, where Ianto was itching to turn back to complete his ritual.
It was only after the quietest week on Torchwood record that these instances collected together in Jack's mind, inhuman boredom having lead him to replay some of their more exciting missions, but now he saw it he didn't know how he'd missed it. He was curious as to what could be so important as to require these last-minute visits, and to how many times Ianto went off to attend to whatever-it-was when there wasn't an emergency. For every time Jack had noticed, how many had he missed?
He thought maybe it was to feed Myfanwy, but Ianto always returned too quickly for that to be the case. He thought he could check the CCTV footage, but that felt too much like spying. There wasn't another Lisa, Ianto had proven his loyalty time and time again. Whatever it was that was drawing him away would only be important to him.
After they were called out on a Weevil sighting and he saw Ianto's eyes flit back into the hub before they left, Jack straight out asked him what it was. He hadn't been planning on it, the observation just triggered his musings and he voiced them before he forgot again. Ianto had seemed surprised, and shown the very slightest of smiles before simply saying it was nothing. Naturally that turned Jack's curiosity into a burning desire to know, and he put it to use in the best way he knew how.
He had been astounded that night when, mere moments away and commanded to tell him, Ianto had panted back that Jack would have to try harder than that. Later on, led against each other in an exhausted heap, they were both asleep too fast to even remember what Jack had asked.
If Ianto didn't surrender what he was doing to Jack's, er, considerable expertise in prying information out of people, he contemplated the next morning, then he never would. Jack was going to have to find out on his own.
The next time there was an investigation tip, nothing urgent, he made sure to inform Ianto through his headset when he was in sight, unaware that Jack could see him. He followed at just enough distance to keep an eye on him, deciding that a physical chase was exciting, and if he was caught it could be brushed off as a game, whereas if he was caught viewing CCTV footage then he was clearly losing. Jack hated to lose. Ianto led him to the white tiled medical area where Owen was usually found, looking from side-to-side, confirming that this was the scene of the crime, so to speak. He fiddled with some controls just outside the medical bay and headed back for the exit, just passing Jack as he ducked back and barely managed to avoid being seen. This had to be it, this was what he'd been doing. Those controls held the key to Ianto's mini-mission, the distraction that held him if only for a few moments every day. This was it.
Jack approached the panel carefully, then realised how suspicious that must look considering he was in-charge around here, and strolled over in full Captain Jack Harkness, as-close-to-an-owner-of-this-place-as-there-is-thank-you-very-much, mode.
For all the good it did him he might as well not have bothered. The panel was comprised of environmental controls for this part of the hub, (being so large that one system was impractical). The thermostat was set a few degrees lower than the hub's standard temperature but other than that it was just like every other such panel. Jack didn't know what he thought he'd find, but by all accounts Ianto appeared to have done nothing of note. He turned around, half expecting to see Ianto smirking at getting one over on him, but he wasn't there. No, that would be too common, to gloat in Jack's obvious defeat. Far better to pick a random panel, play with a harmless control like temperature for show, then leave Jack on his own to feel even more like an idiot when he realised Ianto must have been on to him. He'd been tricked.
Not that he would truly class it as defeat of course; merely a momentary setback. He was winning simply by noticing that Ianto was up to something in the first place, he reasoned. Yes, victory was still easily in sight. He just had to figure out how to claim it.
Feeling the disappointment reside, replaced by a secret excitement that the game was still on, he headed back to the main part of the hub to join Ianto.
If he had waited a few more minutes he would have seen Owen emerge from his work area, shivering as he fiddled with the controls and cursing the cold temperature. Once again the thermostat was several degrees lower than he had set it.
He kept telling Ianto it was broken.
A/N; Hopefully you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, I find thermostat sabotage is a classic in any shared space! Feedback is always appreciated.