Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Table 8 prompt 2: First Impressions
Rating: G
Warnings: General spoilers for Fragments and Cyberwoman
Word count: 532
Jack's first impression of one Ianto Jones was that the man was far wiser than his age indicated. Ianto Jones may have been wearing a jacket and jeans but he held himself in a manner that demonstrated the effect that Torchwood London and the Battle of Canary Wharf had over the survivors. Jack had wondered, for a second, if he had lost anyone close to him in that battle and realized that ieveryone/i involved in that day had lost someone. Jack believed the boy, not quite a man, had lost a best friend, a confidant, and a lover in that battle. He only wished it hadn't affected Ianto Jones the way it had.
Jack's impressions were proven correct after the events involving a Cyberwoman and the Team nearly dying again. The man, for his actions for his love had proven him to be a man, held deep within him the capabilities to love and burn and the ability destroy everything Jack had worked for with just one look. For a fleeting second, Jack entertained the idea of courting Ianto to make up for overlooking him and taking him for granted all this time. Jack dismissed this idea with a simple shake of his head. He would entertain that thought again after all of this blew over.
Ianto Jones' first impression of one Captain Jack Harkness was that the man was powerful. The power radiating off the man, never a boy after all the weight of the world rested on his broad shoulders, had shocked and scared Ianto, making him wish that he could trust Captain Jack Harkness with his secrets. Jack Harkness was, without a shadow of a doubt, not someone Ianto wanted to cross but he also knew that to save Lisa he needed Torchwood Cardiff's technology. For Ianto that made the risk of dying or losing every happy memory he had so much more worth it. Ianto wondered, for a split second, if Jack would ever need a shoulder to lean on the way Ianto did now, though no one was listening or paying him any attention anyway, and what it would be like for him to be the person he ran to when that day came.
Months later, Ianto's first impressions proved to be correct after Lisa tried to destroy the place Ianto had come to call a second home, despite his initial reservations. Jack Harkness was not a man whose anger was anything to be trifled with. Ianto knew when his sentence was given he was lucky to even be alive. A few weeks of suspension and then a few more of being watched like a hawk was a small price to pay for the amount of damage that the Cyberwoman, that ibthing/i/b hadn't been his Lisa, had done. Ianto truly wished he had had the courage to tell Jack beforehand but knew that one day, maybe if he was truly lucky, Jack would forgive him.
Both men had no idea of the first impressions that the others on the team had of them and both had no idea that one day both men's wishes would become reality. Though, that, in and of itself, is another story entirely.