"Come on, come on, pick up." Ianto muttered, clenching the phone between his shoulder and ear as he rolled up his shirt sleeves.
As soon as he'd got home he'd taken his land line phone in one hand, and collected all his dirty dishes using the other. He had dialed the number from memory as he tempered the water and added the washing up liquid.
"Oh, hello?" A breathless voice came up on the other side of the line.
"Hello, it's-"
"Yanno, luv, how are you? Sorry had to run from the other room for the phone."
"I'm alright Tal. Just got home for work."
"Late night, then."
"Yes, I was finishing up some things with Jack in his office." He wiped a cloth around the inside of his cereal bowl from breakfast, and it knocked against the edge of a glass.
"Yan…" Ianto felt a little uncomfortable at the questioning tone in her voice. "Are you doing the dishes right now?"
"Yes." He answered honestly, and heard a sigh in response.
"What's wrong?" Ianto smiled, glancing out at the city from the window over his sink.
"It's Jack." He shook his head, very slightly as not to let the phone drop into the water. "Well, not Jack. It's me and Jack. I just…I freaked out on him a little today I suppose."
"Freak out, or……freak out." She intoned.
"What do you think Talia." Ianto rolled his eyes. "I've called you in the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday and I'm washing my dishes."
"What happened?"
"It's just. I didn't really expect this. Lisa was the last person who I….I haven't even said anything to him. So he doesn't know. He couldn't know how to…."
"Did you ask him about it? Did he feel anything?"
"The spark was about a week ago, but I thought it might have just been, you know, static shock or something."
"Did you actually think so?" Talia sounded doubtful, but encouraging.
"No, of course not, but I don't know how Jack could have let me in without knowing it. That's why I wasn't expecting anything today. And when we were….well, talking…." Ianto coughed and Talia laughed at his stuffy discretion about things like this. "Well he said something, and there wasn't any guard up, so it really hit me. I suppose I was more startled than anything."
"Are you alright now?"
"Yes, of course. Other than I think I scared Jack. I might have bolted….a bit….right after."
Ianto smiled at Talia's loud laugh through the line.
"You would do that, wouldn't you."
" I did." Ianto conceded.
"You should talk to him though."
"I don't know what to tell him really."
"Just….let him know as much as you're comfortable with."
"True. Look, thanks for the help. I'm sure you've got an appointment coming in or something."
"I've got ten minutes. Look, Yanno, I've got about a week off coming up in beginning of May. What say I come up to visit? We can go over some stuff."
"I'd love it." Ianto grinned at the prospect, moving a pot from the water to the drying rack.
"Alright then. Love you Yan."
"Love Tal."
"Hello?" Ianto answered his phone, taking a quick swig from his beer as he watched the rugby highlights.
"Eh mate. What's going on up in Cardiff then?" Ianto smiled.
"Nothing much. How are you and Mah doing?"
"Decently. Bit busy these days, switching over to the new building. We've got two new employees, one of whom is useless, but the other is working out well. What about you? How's that Jack fellow?"
Ianto laughed.
"Fine. Good. Busy with work, same as you. Just talked to Talia though."
"Really? How is she doing?"
"Coming up for a visit in May. You up for a night out with the whole crew as some point that week."
"Always am. Look, I just wanted to call and ask you something. I… I'm going to propose. To Moira."
"Thanks for the fill in on who."
"Shut it." Tommy shot back. "I'm serious about this. Business is settling down now, and we're looking at buying a flat, maybe a house. And I think….I'm going to ask her to marry me."
"Wow, mate, that's big."
"Yeah. I know."
"Do you know when, or where?"
"Don't even have the ring yet. I was hoping that you could come along, help me out with it."
"Yeah, course. Don't mind at all. Let me know when you've got an afternoon."
"I will. Ta, Ianto. It's a huge help."
"She's going to go straight mental you know." Ianto laughed.
"Yeah. Yeah I hope so."
"Well. Good on you, Tom."
"Thanks. Hey, I'll give you a call later in the week then?"
"Will do."
"Yanno!"
"Georgie! How's it going kid?" Ianto smiled at his bowl of fried rice leftovers.
"Good. I made it on the football team at school. First line too."
"That's great. I knew you would, if they'd any sense at all."
"Would you have come up here and straightened them out if I didn't."
"In a minute." Ianto chuckled.
"Which reminds me, when are you coming up for a visit? I was at Gran's for Easter, and it's been since Christmas now."
"I know. I'm just really busy at work Georgie. I promise I'll come up for a visit soon as I can."
"Fine. Make sure that you call first. You should come see one of my games."
"I'll see what I can do." Ianto stirred the rice around to spread out the dark circle of soy sauce.
"Alright. Well, you'd better. Anyways, your mum wants to talk to you. Bya!" Ianto took advantage of the pause to take in a bite of rice.
"Hello cariad," Ianto smiled at the sound of her voice.
"Bore da Mum. How are you?"
"Well, and you're running yourself ragged I suppose?"
"Only a little bit."
"Well, I thought I'd just have a quick call, check up on you."
"Am I last, as always?" Ianto pretended to be upset by the fact that his mother always called him last when she ran through each of the kids.
"Saving the best." It was the same reply she always gave. It was comforting
"How is everyone?"
"Oh, you know, scattered to the four winds. Ainsley and Dai are well, and the baby. It's apparently quite hot where they are right now, for the time of year. Aoife is up to her eyes in essays, as I'm sure you've heard before. And Lewis is being quite Lewis."
"Of course. What else could he be?"
"Anything he'd like if he'd just put his mind to it." Ianto could see his mum rolling her eyes across the phone line.
"Which reminds me. Tommy's getting engaged." Ianto related to her, knowing that she would remember his uni mates.
"To that Moira girl? I thought she was quite amusing when I met her. Good for him."
"Yeah, I'm going to help him go pick out the ring soon."
"And what about you, love?" Ianto snorted and he almost had rice up his nose.
"What about me?"
"How are you and Jack doing? Have you sorted things out?"
"Nothing was wrong Mum. Really."
"Whatever you want to say, Ifan."
"Muuum." It was Ianto's turn to roll his eyes.
"Well I hope he's taking care of you at least. Say hello from me."
"Okay. I will."
"Oh come on now. You two are rather serious, and you have a very strong connect it would seem."
"That would currently be the understatement of the situation." Ianto mumbled, and then swallowed heavily. Living away, he sometimes forgot the eerie sense of hearing his mother had.
"Ifan…Have you…?"
"No. I haven't mentioned anything to him. He doesn't know what I can do."
"You're sure everything's alright?" Ianto smiled, hoping to pass his convincing smile through the phone.
"Of course. Now I'm just going to have my supper before it gets cold. But I'll talk to you soon."
"Love Ifan," Ianto smiled at the mirror on his kitchen wall.
"Love Mum."
Before he even got a chance to exchange his phone for his fork, it rang again.
"Yes?" Ianto tried to sound polite, but a bit tired, hoping to beg off ill on whoever it was.
"Hi." Jack. Oh.
"Are you done for the day?" Ianto asked, not sure what else to say after having left so quickly today.
"Yeah, a few minutes ago. And I just wanted to check up, make sure you're alright."
"Yeah, I think it was probably just something I ate. My stomach was just a bit off." Jack made a noise of recognition.
"Would it be okay if I came over? Just to…I dunno…we can watch a movie or something?"
Ianto thought for a moment. He could beg off ill. Or he could spend the evening on the couch with Jack and a few beers.
"Yeah. Just let yourself in. I'll grab you a drink."
"I'll probably be there in ten."
They were laying on the couch, Jack's head resting on Ianto's lap. His braces were off his shoulders and his shirt was untucked, letting Ianto's palm rest closer to his skin. Ianto was in tracks and an old t-shirt, and was pretty much content. There was something deeper than usual in the hum of Jack's presence, beyond the rise and fall of his chest and the soft noises of his breathing. And like this, calm and soothing instead of sudden and overwhelming, it was nice.
