"It's really not what you're thinking, Ianto!" Jack struggled to make his boy understand the situation. He was standing over his bedroom bunker, waiting for Ianto to emerge.
"It's okay, there's no need to explain yourself," came the young man's voice with a touch of echo to it before his head appeared beyond ground level. He climbed out with a single, deep blue shirt in his hand and made his way to the desk, ignoring Jack, who followed him.
"I only came to put your clothes away and neaten your desk, then I'm leaving too," he said, putting the shirt down. He started rummaging with the papers, but Jack saw over his shoulder that he'd just messed them up instead of putting them in order.
"Let me tell you what happened," he pleaded putting one hand on the boy's shoulder.
But Ianto shrugged it off immediately, still staring down at the desk.
Jack pulled a little smile. "Jesus, I'd never thought you can be this jealous…"
Abruptly Ianto swung around and faced him.
"You talk like you didn't give me a reason." he huffed. His dimples were flushed with anger and disappointment, but these weren't the only emotions Jack could read off his face; the Captain detected a trace of fear there, too.
Jack assessed Ianto was truly hurt, but not because the fact his lover had kissed another man, but because for the boy it meant the possibility of losing Jack's love and care forever. Jack's heart was melting from this discovery and he wanted to let Ianto know that, but when he attempted to cup his cheek, the Welshman turned back to the table as if realizing he had just revealed his soul to the Jack.
"I've always tried to make myself believe I'm not one of your boy-toys," Ianto sighed, lifting up things from the desk pointlessly, just to put them down again a moment later.
"I'm making something very badly if you have to convince yourself about it." Jack said as he leaned against his desk with his backside next to Ianto.
"I'm going home," Ianto suddenly declared, looking up at Jack again, his mouth quivering.
"This is your home," the Captain replied gazing right into the man's eyes. "And believe me, Ianto, you may be angry right now, but I bet if you listen to what I want to tell you, you won't just stay, but you'll also let me fuck you tonight, long and hard."
Ianto laughed bitterly. "After what I saw a few minutes ago? Well, you can fuck yourself, Jack! Or Owen, if you fancy him that much. I don't care."
"So you don't believe I can persuade you I didn't kiss Owen for my enjoyment?" Jack asked.
"No," the young man shook his head wearing an extremely sad expression; apparently he didn't like he had to say that.
"But you'll listen to me, won't you?" Jack wanted to know.
"I will," Ianto caved in, mirroring Jack's position, making himself comfortable physically at least if he couldn't otherwise. "But only because I'd like to see what you can come up with when a situation requires you to lie."
"I'm telling you the truth and I'm sure you're smart enough to put the pieces together and so believe every word I'm saying," Jack seemed confident. "Listen carefully and when I'm finished you can call me a liar if you still want to…"
Jack told him everything from the beginning to the end. How he'd let Owen go with him, how the doctor had broken his promise, how it had led to the 'accident' and to the chance to experiment. He went into details about the theory, which wasn't a theory anymore and told him about the first kiss – the part he remembered anyway. After a while Ianto started to ask questions, in fact he asked exactly the same ones that Owen had in the SUV.
Soon Jack was about to come to the point and tell why they had been caught kissing again, but Ianto forestalled him:
"He wanted to know if a simple kiss presented the same result," he said grinning, being proud of himself for having an 'aha moment'.
"I love your quick mind," said Jack, happy to see his sweetheart smile again and also that he hadn't had to explain the rest himself.
The Welshman stepped in front of him, looking serious.
"I remember when you took me back… when Lisa…," he stammered, but the words got caught in his throat – it was the case every time he started a sentence that included his late girlfriend's name.
He shook his head a little and knowing Jack got the hint about the time he was thinking about anyway, he went on: "I was in the dark. I was so scared and I thought I would never know anything else…" he paused a bit here letting out a sigh as if trying to get rid of the memory of the traumatic experience. When he talked again he looked a bit relieved: "The next thing I can recall is seeing your handsome face over mine. But before that, it was just the dark and it was never ending."
"I know," said the Captain, reaching out to pull Ianto into a hug, because he reckoned the man was now willing to let him do so, but he was wrong. Ianto pushed his hand away. He didn't do it rudely, but he made it clear he had something else to say before they would have stepped to another level.
"Yes, I know you do," the young man said. "There is no one else who'd know the difference between life and death better. And that's why I dare to call you an idiot for what you had done to Owen today."
"Why would I be an idiot for giving him a few happy minutes?" Jack looked astonished.
"Because now he'll be yearning for more, that's why," Ianto tried to keep his voice calm, while he would have rather burst out, because the thought that found him was too worrying; it was hard to hold himself back from doing so. "Ahh, I see. You still have no idea what Owen has to handle because of you and what danger you'd put yourself in?" Ianto groaned, observing Jack's innocent-looking face.
"Enlighten me!" Jack asked him.
Ianto collected his words very carefully, hoping there will be no need to tell what he thought point blank.
"You gave Owen a temptation that might be stronger than him. Instinct for life is the most intensive characteristic of all beings, Jack. What if Owen will not be able to swim against the stream? What if he won't be able to fight the urge that suggests him to take what he needs?"
Jack finally got Ianto's point, but he found it a bit ridiculous.
"You don't really think Owen could hurt me, do you?" he asked, taking his lover's hand.
Ianto eventually let himself being enveloped in Jack's arms. He held on the Captain tight for a moment.
"I don't know what to think, cariad, but I'm worried about both you and him." he murmured into Jack's ear. "I don't think you did the right thing showing him what you had found out."
"He'll be fine," Jack reassured him. "And so will I."
"I hope you're right," Ianto breathed against Jack's neck but the older man shushed him.
They were holding each other for minutes without talking before Ianto pulled back to take a proper look at the only sign of harm that remained on Jack: the stain on his shirt.
"I hate when you get shot," he put his fingers on the huge mark of dried blood on the material.
"Here," said Jack, pulling his shirt out of his trousers and undoing the last few buttons on it. He took Ianto's left hand and laid it on his belly right onto the spot where he'd been shot. "It came in here…" he told before taking his other hand and placing it onto another area on his back, a few inches over the belt. "… and left here." He let Ianto rest his palms over the once damaged skin and kissed him on the mouth gently while he did.
He loosened his lover's tie and pulled it over his head before going on, taking his time with the buttons of the waistcoat and shirt. Meanwhile Ianto was stroking and caressing his chest and once in a while he 'accidentally' pushed his hips to Jack's to call the man's attention how hard he was already.
Jack bent forward a bit to have a better access to Ianto's right nipple. He drew lazy circles around it with his tongue and sucked on it every time the young man blew the air out of his lungs.
He felt Ianto's fingers playing vaguely with his hair and it made him remember how messy his hair looked with all the speckles of dried blood in it he couldn't have simply wiped out with a kleenex, not to mention what the rain had done to it… He straightened up and pulled Ianto into another kiss.
"Come, have a shower with me," Jack whispered against the Welshman's lips. "All I need now is you and a post coital hair washing."
"I'm up for the job," Ianto enthused. He also let out moan as the older man made his hard erection brush against his.
"I can feel that, Ianto Jones," Jack teased him before he abruptly encircled one hand around his lover's arm, picked up the fresh tee from the desk and as half-stripped as Ianto was, Jack dragged him after himself in the direction of the showers.