I won't always update that quickly, but this chapter wrote itself after the previous one, so there you go! Huge thanks to everyone who answered positively to this fic, I'm glad you're liking it! And again thanks to mika-pirkaf who helped me come up with ideas, and for her support, it really motivated me to write fast.

This is set a year later ;)

Jack stuffed his hands in his pockets, not really wanting to be there. It was either this or the awkward, dead silence with his mother. The choice was quickly made. Plus, he actually really enjoyed being with John, even if sometimes he just had to roll his eyes when he mentioned River. She was his girlfriend – had been for a couple of months now – and sometimes, John couldn't shut up about how amazing she was. Not that she wasn't amazing. Jack actually loved her, she was nice and had a lot of common interests with him, and she was pretty awesome, that was true. But hearing about it a lot could upset Jack. John was still his best friend, though, and he had moved on from his "small" crush on Rose at least, so nothing awkward would happen on this Christmas dinner.

Jack was lost in his thoughts when the door opened, and he quickly glanced up before following John inside, greeting the family nervously – John's father remark about how he was "that boy that didn't enjoy Christmas" didn't really boost Jack's faith in this dinner. He was prepared to be bored in the middle of people that knew each other too well. He was used to being the black sheep anyway.

His brain stopped when John's brother entered the room. He remembered him from the year before. He had been a bit weird, asking him questions but also looking really uncomfortable, which had made Jack uncomfortable. He didn't look weird at all now. First of all, he looked sexy as hell. He was wearing a freaking suit as if this night was the most important, formal event of his life – not that Jack was complaining. It was very fit, and he looked truly good in it, as if he had been born to wear suits. Jack definitely appreciated the outfit, compared to the worn out, too big shirt he had been wearing the year before.

But it wasn't just the suit. It was the whole feeling coming out of him. He looked way more confident than a year before. He was nailing the suit, he was looking very handsome, and he bloody knew it. He had one hand casually placed in his pocket, the other adjusting his tie, and Jack had to gulp so he wouldn't drool all over the place. And his eyes – his eyes! Had they looked that way the last time? So confident, so beautiful? Ianto didn't appear too full of himself, or over-confident, just confident enough. He had gained on some weight as well, and looked healthier than his skinny shape from the year before.

He really looked so very handsome. Like the male version of Helen, and Jack wanted him probably as much as all those suitors had wanted the beautiful Helen.

"Wow, you look... good," Jack finally stuttered after a few seconds of staring too long at Ianto's... at Ianto.

"Yeah, the suit is very beautiful, we know. John, tell us about your new girlfriend!"

A shadow passed in Ianto's eyes, and he left the living room to go into the kitchen, Rose – Jack hadn't even noticed her – following right away. Jack didn't want to talk about John's new girlfriend, he already knew everything there was to know. Jack wanted to speak with Ianto, to be with him or just to stare a bit longer at him. Anything near him, really.

He tried to stay with John and his parents for a while, he really did, because he was here because of John, but he just couldn't anymore, and decided to walk into the kitchen. He could find an excuse to talk to Ianto.

Rose quickly fled the room, gesturing things that Jack didn't understand at Ianto, but he was glad she left.

"Hey, I thought maybe you could brew me some coffee like last year? It was really good," Jack flashed his grin, which he knew looked good on him.

Ianto nodded, quickly preparing a coffee, but with trembling hands.

"So," Ianto chuckled to himself, "coffee before eating? That's new."

Wow, he wasn't very good at flirting. But at least he was trying, and that was all that mattered for Jack. He was interested too!

"What can I say, your coffee's irresistible." And so are you, Jack thought, staring right into Ianto's eyes.

He saw his confident smile fade and being replaced with a slight blush as he hastily concentrated on making a coffee, and Jack couldn't have been prouder. He was so adorable!

"So has anything interesting happened lately?" Jack asked, leaning casually against the counter, as close to Ianto as possible. Almost touching him, but not quite so. Ianto shrugged as an answer. "Nothing exciting? No girlfriend?" Ianto shook his head, taking the freshly made cup from the coffee machine. "No boyfriend?" Jack ventured, his arms crossed on his chest now.

At his question, Ianto... well, Jack wasn't sure what happened exactly, but Ianto must have let go of everything because before long, Jack was soaked.

It happened both slowly and quickly. Slowly enough for Jack to think he was completely doomed, quickly enough for Jack to be unable to do anything about it. He saw the water and a moment later, he felt it.

Now, he had already accidentally touched a pan on the fire, he had already played with the flame of a candle or lighter... He had even gotten oil projected on him from a pan. It all hurt for a fleeting moment.
This one was pure, simple pain. It was burning hot and Jack's only reflex was to open his mouth to express his pain, except that no sound passed his lips. He just stood there, pain shooting through his body. Oh, it burnt, how it burnt.

He didn't remember much of what happened next. There was a lot of shouting from other people, and Jack whimpered. Did he faint? He didn't know. He sure spaced out. He remembered the hospital, or some of it.

Never in a billion years would he have imagined that one could get a serious burn with hot water. As he hadn't stripped instantly, his shirt had been hard to take off and – yikes. Maybe he wasn't ready to think back about it yet. The doctor had told him he would probably have a trace for a while, but the way he had announced it clearly meant that he would be marked for life.

People had cool scars with cool stories, and he suddenly had this stupid burn because a good-looking guy had spilled hot boiling water on him. He really, really didn't like Christmas. Just one more reason to hate this period of the year.

He spent the night with the Joneses, having refused to warn his mother about his situation. She would have stressed out too much, especially on Christmas day. He didn't want to bother her, and he didn't even want her to know about this. It was just so ridiculous.

He even forgot about Ianto, until he was lying on the floor next to John's bed, unable to sleep. John had fallen easily asleep, after a call to River that still embarrassed Jack because of how he had told her everything. He had hoped he could lie to her, but he shouldn't even have thought about it with John in the same room.

So he was lying on his back and trying to sleep. He had tried turning on his side, but it was too painful, even if he turned only a bit. He had tried imagining stories, which sometimes helped him, but it was of no use. He wouldn't sleep, his entire chest hurt – gladly, as glad as he could be, the water had spread only on his arm and a small part of his chest – and his mind wouldn't stop working. So he silently stood, with much difficulty, and stumbled out of the bedroom, finding his way in the dark. He could see enough to make his way downstairs without hurting himself and realized that the reason was because someone had turned the light of the kitchen on.

Curious, and probably doomed to spend the night awake, he walked to the room, but froze when he saw Ianto there. Should he talk to him?

He was tidying the kitchen, visibly, checking bags of different coffees while he hummed and moved softly to the music he apparently had in mind. He still looked handsome, especially concentrated on his task, but Jack suddenly didn't want to flirt with him anymore. He didn't hate him or refuse to talk to him, but he wasn't sure flirting with him would ever end up well. That was stupid, but he could find someone else looking really good in College. Someone who wouldn't throw burning water at him.

So he cleared his throat, making Ianto spill beans of the coffee he was holding. It maybe was mean, but Jack thought it was only deserved – okay, he didn't hate him, but the guy had still burnt him! – and couldn't help but grin.

"Can't sleep, huh?" he asked as he took pity on Ianto and helped him clean.

"I'm not much of a sleeper," Ianto shrugged. He was about to add something, but Jack winced and froze. "Let me do that," he said, gently pushing Jack away.

He stood on the side, watching Ianto and trying not to scratch his painful skin.

"For what it's worth," Ianto said after a while, almost done with his cleaning, "I'm really sorry."

"It's okay."

"But why would you stand so close..."

Ianto frowned, apparently realising he had spoken his thoughts, and Jack grinned. "Now it's my fault? You spilled the coffee."

"Hey, you were the one saying inappropriate things!"

"I was simply asking you about your life!"

Jack was having fun, and Ianto clearly was too, although he was better at hiding it. They kept falsely arguing for a while, until Jack's stomach growled.

"Oh God, you totally missed dinner. Do you want something?"

The family had eaten when they had come back from the hospital, but Jack hadn't felt like socializing or eating, so he had just lain on John's bed until it had been time for everyone to sleep. Of course, now he was hungry in the middle of the night so he nodded.

As the clock was nearing three in the morning, Jack couldn't believe that he was waiting for Ianto to quickly re-heat some leftovers for him when, only hours earlier, he had spilled boiling water on him. They both seemed to drop the idea of flirting with the other, though. But Jack didn't really mind as they turned out to have more common interests than Jack would have thought. Maybe they were better off as friends, or acquaintances. Maybe it was just a lesson:Jack shouldn't have tried to flirt with his best friend's brother. Lesson learnt.