Chapter 2
The Next Morning
"Mam, I know you wanted me to take the whole day off but I need to go in for the morning at least. I'll be home by half one at the latest."
I handed her my key. I would have given her the spare but Jack had that. I gave it to him when I got bored of him barging in whenever he liked.
"Okay, but I did want to spend the day with you."
"I know. I'm sorry."
I turned to leave.
"Ianto, please remember that the rest of our family are homophobes. Maybe you should call your boyfriend and tell him not to come."
WHAT! Crap crap crappy crap crap crap!
"What!?!?!?! How did you know?"
"I'm your mam Cariad. I know everything."
TWTWTWTWTWTWTW
At the hub
As soon as I stepped through the cog door something tall, warm, muscular and well completely gorgeous slammed into me. I took a deep breath, inhaling his wonderful 51st century pheromones. It seemed like the embrace lasted for minutes but it was only seconds before Owen made his entrance.
"Ewwwww, boys. Get a room." He was dramatically covering his eyes.
"No." Jack said plainly. "'cause Yan's family are homophobes, and it's his birthday, and I can't do this at the party."
When he said 'this' he lifted my feet off the ground and hugged me to him like a child would clutch a teddy.
"Jaaaaaaack." I protested, "I'm not a toy."
"Are you sure?" He said flirtatiously.
I laughed and tried to wriggle out of his arms but he squeezed harder and morphed into five year old Jack.
"Nevaaaaaaaaa!" he screeched. Owen sighed, shook his head and sat down at his desk.
"Fine then, but if I'm stuck here I can't make coffee."
"I can live without coffee." Jack said, pulling me closer. I swear I have never seen Owen move so fast.
"I bloody well can't!" He cried. Suddenly Gwen and Tosh appeared out of nowhere and together the three of them pulled open his arms. I slipped out from underneath and walked to a safe distance, straightening my suit jacket.
"Run, Teaboy, run!" Owen yelled.
"Yeah Ianto, run to the kitchen!" Gwen and Tosh chorused.
"Mature guys." Jack said, pulling his arms out of their grip. He started to walk towards his office, and then he turned and charged towards me. Pulling me along with him he leapt onto the invisible lift. He let go of me to remotely activate the lift. Using my hand I signalled to Owen and the others, so that Jack couldn't see, counting down from five. When I got down to zero I jumped off the lift, landing neatly on the floor, bending my knees to absorb the impact. Tosh tripled the lift's speed, Owen was waiting for the lift to reach the plass and when it did he jammed it so that Jacks vortex manipulator wouldn't be able to reopen it. Meanwhile I ran to the archive to hide and Gwen set up decoys which made it look like I was hiding in all sorts of ridiculous places. My personal favourite was the blanket under Jack's desk with the pillows underneath and the shoe sticking out to make it look like I was hiding underneath. I was hiding in one of the blind spots of the archives. I sat down and listened through my comm unit. I heard snippets of conversations and then a roar, "WHERE'S MY IANTO." I blushed. His Ianto. Apparently Owen was thinking the same thing. "Oh, so he's YOUR Ianto now is he?" Jack stammered something inaudible.
Tosh giggled, "Aww, look you've made him blush!" No way. Jack never blushes.
"I DON'T BLUSH!!" Jack screamed. I mean literally screamed!
Tosh laughed, "Of course, you're just naturally pink." Gwen laughed hysterically.
Jack tried a different method, squealing. "Where is heeeeeee."
"Who?" Owen asked, his face a picture of innocence.
"IANTO!"
I had an idea and pressed a finger to my comm.
"Yes sir?" I said, thickening my accent and lowering my voice.
"Yaaan, where are you?" His voice softened, "Please tell me."
"Why would I do that? Spoil the fun, that would. Why don't you come find me?"
I wondered if I was having the desired effect.
"I can think of something more fun that we could be doing." He said suggestively. I could hear a chorus of 'Eeeews' in the background.
"Well, I am rather enjoying this, sir." I said, offhandedly, "Hiding is much more fun when you're naked." Yes, that did it, Jack just groaned.
"Fine, I'll give you a hint." He grunted. I lowered my voice to conspiratorial whisper, "I'm in the vaults."
I switched channels, "Owen, tell me when he's gone."
"He's already sprinted off." I walked up to the main area. When I reached it, I noticed Gwen and Owen stood by the Cog Door. "We're off on a rift alert, nothing big, probably a weevil. I know I'll probably regret this but, what did you say to reduce Jack to grunts, moans and loss of speech?"
"Easy." I said as if it were obvious, "I told him I was naked."
"But you weren't?" Gwen asked.
"You catch on fast."
They left and I went to my desk and set the CCTV to follow Jack whilst I made Tosh and myself a coffee. I leant back against the wall, cradling my cup, watching Jack kick down the doors of all unoccupied cells looking for me.
"Why's he making such a fuss over me?" I thought out loud. Tosh answered me anyway. "Obviously he thinks you're worth making a fuss over." She settled next to me and we spent a few minutes in companionable silence.
"Umm… Ianto." I looked around at Tosh. "If Jack is searching almost every cell. How many cells on one level?"
"Fifty." I replied automatically.
"And how many levels?"
"23." I said. "Hang on, that's… One thousand, one hundred and fifty cells. That's going to take hours."
We both started to laugh.
2hrs and 30 minutes later
The team and I were playing cheat, sat around Tosh's desk when Jack stormed in and yelled, "Alright, where is he?" I leaned out so that he could see me.
"Who sir?" I didn't even hear his reply. I was distracted by the grin on his face. I stood up and he wrapped his arms around me.
"Aww, boss man's found his Teaboy." Owen teased.
"Yep. I've found MY Teaboy." Jack grinned. I blushed and wriggled deeper into Jacks arms.
