AN: Here is chapter 4 hope you all enjoy. I would really love to get a comment or two just saying.
Ianto opened the door to his flat while balancing a card board box on his hip. It was five minutes till midnight and he was exhausted but he had wanted to get this box from storage because in contained his favorite red tie. Red really was his color.
He placed the box on the coffee table and took the tie out. "I wouldn't go with red," said a voice behind him.
Ianto jumped obviously startled "You're still here I see," turning from his position on the couch to look at Jason who was standing in the bedrooms doorway. Jason had still been there earlier in the day to when Ianto had returned from the hostel with all his belongings. Ianto had opted to ignore him at that time and had focused all his attention on getting ready to go. The only interaction they had was when Ianto came out of the bedroom wearing blue jeans, a buttoned up shirt the top buttons undone, and a silver necklace. Ianto had decided, of his own accord, to change back into a suit after Jason had said he looked like a rent boy.
Coming back to the present Ianto continued his observation. "And in my bedroom," Ianto didn't even try to hide the annoyance in his voice.
Jason walked over and sat next to Ianto on the couch putting his feet up on the coffee table. "I did leave for a while, I have a life you know, but I came back after Lily told me you got in. Wanted to congratulate you in person. You seemed to be taking your sweet time getting back so I took a little nap, hope you don't mind."
Ianto did mind. He inwardly groaned his bed was going to smell like Jason now. Jason continued talking as if he didn't notice the annoyance radiating off of Ianto. "Lily bought the bedding and towels online. She loves shopping online. I'd go as far as to say she is addicted." It was clear to Ianto that Jason was just rambling about nonsense now.
"Why don't I want to wear the red tie?" Ianto said returning to Jason's earlier comment.
"I think the better question would be why you want to wear it?" Jason said.
"I look good in red," Ianto said like the answer was obvious.
Jason grinned "I know you do, but who are you trying to look good for?"
Ianto threw the tie back in to the box. He knew exactly where Jason was going with this. "I fucking hate you."
Jason's grin grew wider. "I don't think you do. Anyway, you should go with a pale blue. It will match your eyes, plus it will make you seem less eager."
"I am not eager at all." Ianto pouted, "Really I am not. I just know that I need him to trust me. So I was going to prove that I trust him."
"By letting him fuck you over a desk perhaps?" Jason teased.
Ianto was not amused. "No! I am just going to do everything he says no questions asked and be the model employee. Follow the straight and narrow as it were. Maybe flirt with him a little he seems to like that. I want to wear the red tie simply because I want to look my best. No ulterior motive."
"So if he asks you to let..." Jason started but Ianto cut him off.
"Look whether or not I have sex with Jack Harkness is not really any of your concern. Nor is the color of tie I choose to ware. So if you could please make your way to the nearest exit and let me go to bed."
Jason smiled "Okay, but one more thing. Nothing says I trust you like letting someone be your first. So if you do decide to go down the sex route. Pretend he is your first." And with that Jason got up from the couch and headed out of Ianto's flat leaving the young man with a lot to think about.
Ianto knew that if he took Jason's advice it would make him feel morally bankrupt, but he also knew that he already felt that way anyway. That's what being a professional liar did to people, no matter how justifiable the reasons for the lies. He really needed Jack to trust him though. So he would be able to sneak Lisa into the Torchwood base and get her out of that cramped storage room she was currently in. He knew he would do anything for Lisa, even if it meant seducing a dangerous man. In a way he had already done that, but that had all been accidental. If he did what Jason suggested he would really be going that extra hazardous mile. What really worried Ianto is that he wanted to do it. He was pretty sure that even if there were no files to destroy and no Lisa to protect he would still want nothing more than to jump into the dashing Captain's bed. And that made Ianto feel like he was betraying Lisa.
Ianto took a deep breathe. It's not like he had to decide right now. He got off the couch and went to the bathroom to shower. He tried not to think of how great Jack's body had felt beneath him. Of how wonderful the older man had smelled. He tried desperately not to wonder what would have happened had he kissed those lips that had been so close to his. He looked down and realized that he had failed. He turned on the cold water to fix the situation. Then he got out of the shower, dried off and slid in to bed.
He was immediately assaulted with Jason's scent but he was just too tired to care.
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Ianto arrived at the tourist center at 7:30 the next morning wearing a pale blue tie that matched his eyes. Jack hadn't been specific on what time he should report for work so Ianto had just picked 7:30.
He looked up at the camera that was just above the centers door and smiled and waved at it. Someone must have been watching because as soon as he did this the centers door opened. Ianto cautiously entered.
Captain Jack Harkness was standing behind the counter of the very dirty and very unorganized tourist center. "You don't need a guard dog sir, you need a maid." Ianto said running his finger along one of the dusty shelves.
Jack laughed "Sir," he said raising his eyebrows, "I like that." He then looked straight at Ianto and winked. "If you want to be the maid I am sure I can find you one of those black and white outfits. I am sure it would look lovely on you."
Ianto blushed "That's okay. Think I will stick to the suits.
Jack smiled "You do look good in a suit."
"Wow, three counts of harassment and I haven't even been here five minutes." Ianto deadpanned.
Jack grinned and pushed a button under the counter which opened one of the centers walls to reveal a dark hallway. "It's only harassment if you don't enjoy it," he said ushering Ianto into the hallway.
In the elevator on the way down to Torchwood 3's underground base Ianto couldn't help but smile at the overgrown man child who was bouncing on his toes in excitement because he was about to show off his lair. This was a total 360 from the man that had threatened to wipe Ianto's memories just last night. For some reason this ability of Jack's to be able to change so dramatically seemed to scare Ianto. So it was with a mixture of excitement and fear that Ianto stepped out of the elevator and stood in front of a big cog door.
"Ready?" Jack said his finger hovering over a blue button and his blue eyes staring into Ianto's. Ianto smiled again and nodded. Jack hit the button and the door rolled open revealing the vast main area of the Torchwood base.
"Welcome to the hub Jones, Ianto, Jones," Jack stated.
Ianto just stared in amazement. Not because of the amazing technology that made the place glow with blue lights. Or even because of the beautiful water fountain that connected to the one above ground. No Ianto was amazed that four grown adults could make such a mess. The whole place was littered with take-out containers, dust, and what appeared to be a single shoe floating just below the water fountain. Ianto realized his mouth was hanging open so he shut it.
"It's wonderful isn't it," Jack said obviously still excited.
"It's a disaster zone. It should probably be shut down do to health code violations." Ianto said looking at Jack with narrowed eyes.
Jack just grinned "I think we over rule the health department."
Ianto rolled his eyes. "You should have hired me two months ago. Actually more like years ago." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. This was going to take time. His eyes swept across the hub until they settled on an old but nice coffee maker. He walked up some stairs so he could get a better look at it.
He wanted to cry for the poor thing. It obviously hadn't been properly cleaned or touched in years. He placed a hand on it and then with a face of mock horror he looked at Jack who was now standing by the top of the stairs. "Look what you monsters have done to this innocent coffee machine," he teased. He turned his attention back to the machine and softly patted it. "It's okay baby," he said to the machine "I'll take care of you now."
Jack laughed out loud behind him. "Should I leave you two alone?" He teased.
Ianto turned and glared at Jack, then smiled. "That's okay sir, I hear office relationships aren't really healthy."
Jack smiled and went to walk by Ianto into what Ianto assumed was the boardroom but stopped just behind him. "Good thing we aren't in an office," he said in to Ianto's ear as he slapped his arse and then continued on towards the boardroom.
He stopped just inside the room and turned to look back at Ianto who was still standing by the coffee maker trying his best to look shocked and not turned on. "Did you want to continue the tour?" Jack asked raising his eyebrows.
Ianto was just about to answer when an alarm sounded and the cog door rolled open to reveal a small Asian woman. Ianto took one look at her and realized she was Torchwood's tech specialist. He looked over at Jack who looked, for the entire world to see, like a child who was just told play time was over.
"Tosh," the pouting man said walking back down the stairs, "you're here early."
"Yes," she said with a yawn. She walked over to the cleaner of the computer work stations, placed her bag on the chair and began to look through it. "I have a lot of decoding to do to figure out what that tech we found last week says. We've been so busy that I figured if I got here early enough I could have time to figure it out before Owen gets in and starts asking ridiculous questions and Susie starts using that bloody blowtorch."
She stopped talking as she pulled a pair of reading glassed from her bag and slipped them on. She looked up at Jack and then noticed Ianto. "Oh, hello," she said smiling warmly at him. She then started to look through her bag again and pulled out a sheet of paper. To Ianto it looked like a betting spread sheet and her next words proved him right.
"I need to know the exact time you hired him and the reason's you hired him," Tosh said as she put the paper on a flat part of her desk and readied a pen to write.
Jack chuckled "Well," he started turning and winking at Ianto "It was about 8:30 last night and I hired him because he can think under pressure and cares for other creatures." He paused for a moment when Tosh turned to look at him over her glasses. Jack smiled a mischievous smile and hastily added "and he looks damn good in a suit."
It didn't bother Ianto; he could care less why Jack hired him. He just wanted to save Lisa and in a side mission find and destroy the parker files and anything else that may have anything to do with Children of the Rift.
"Oh, Owen is not going to be happy," Tosh smiled at Jack and Ianto. She then turned back to her desk pulling open a bottom draw and withdrawing a small rectangular black box with silver symbols on one side of it.
Ianto recognized the alien words immediately upon seeing them. When you were a Child of the Rift, you had to learn as many other languages as you could stuff in your head because you never knew when or where you would end up next and knowing the language in a strange place is a big help. Ianto currently knew 23 spoken languages and 14 separate written languages, the one on Tosh's box being one of the written. He was unsure what the language was called or even the name of the alien's it belonged to, but he reasoned given 3 minutes with the box and he would know what it said. But he held his tongue, as Jason had thought him to do. "No one likes a showoff," he could hear Jason's voice saying in his head and also. "Don't give away too much about yourself because it could blow your cover."
Jack turned away from Tosh and looked at Ianto. "She's lost to the world now," he teased. "Come on I'll show you the archives before the other two show up."
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It seemed to Ianto that every new area of the hub he saw was more messy that the last. On their way to the archives Jack had shown Ianto the cells were they kept prisoners, like the Weevil Ianto had help Jack catch. Jack had of course made a joke about locking Ianto in one if he wasn't a good boy. But Ianto had been to appalled by the condition the weevil was being forced to live in to notice.
The archives seemed to be in the worse shape. While there seemed to have been an order to it once upon a time now the order system seemed to be place it anywhere there is an opening. Ianto figured this was going to take up most of his time.
Jack showed Ianto a small office in the middle of the archives. It was clear it hadn't been used for years. Jack explained that it would be Ianto's office. Ianto took a quick look around. It was kind of sparse housing only an old metal desk and chair and two even older filing cabinets.
"So," Ianto said focusing his attention back on Jack and clasping his hand together. "Just to recap my duties as the support Officer," Ianto liked that title. "I will be cleaning, taking care of food and drink, dealing with the rare tourist, and fixing the archives. Anything else?"
"Nope, not unless you want to add servicing the Captain to your list, though that would be more of a perk than a duty." Jack said nonchalantly.
Ianto rolled his eyes but didn't comment. He walked over to the filing cabinets and opened the top draw of one of them there was nothing in it. Disappointed he closed it. He then felt Jacks arms snake around him from behind. Ianto's breathe hitched as he felt Jack place a small kiss on the back of his neck. Jack then gently turned Ianto around and softly kissed his lips. Ianto prayed for Jack to both stop and continue. The latter of the prayers one because Jack's lips met his again this time it was with more passion and force. Jack brought one hand to the side of Ianto's face and the other to the middle of his back as he pulled their bodies closer together. Jack ran his tongue along the younger man's lower lip begging for entrance, which Ianto granted by parting his lips and letting Jack deepen the kiss.
That's when Ianto felt it a rush of energy that seemed to shoot through his veins. His eyes shot opened (when had he closed them) and he pushed Jack away.
Jack looked taken aback and Ianto looked frightened but that's because he was. "I'm sorry," Ianto managed to blurt out. He tried to calm his breathing and think logically but all he wanted to do was ask Jack what the fuck he was. "But that would blow your cover" he heard Jason's voice say.
Finally Ianto trusted himself to speak again, "I've never kissed a bloke before, I didn't expect it to be so…" he took a deep breathe trying to think of a good word, "incredible."
Jack grinned "first time what an honor." All Ianto could think was damn Jason for being right.
Jack brought his hand up to cup Ianto's chin but as soon as his fingers touched Ianto's face the boy flinched back in fear. Shit, thought Ianto, what a way to prove you trust someone to flinch away from their touch. To try and rectify the situation Ianto grabbed Jacks hand and slowly ran his thumb across the older man's knuckles.
Jack smiled nervously then glanced at his wrist watch. "Well," he said gently removing his hand from Ianto's "that concludes our tour. The other two should be here by now so let's go introduce you to them." Jack turned and started to walk back to the main hub Ianto followed him.
On the journey back through the hub Ianto tried to figure out what had caused that energy rush. It was normal to have a slight rush around other Rift Children that's how they could recognize each other. But the rush he had just felt had been 10 times more intense. It was a moot point anyway because Jack wasn't a Rift Child. To prove this to himself he tried to sense Jack, and he couldn't, which took Ianto back to square one. Maybe he was a sex god, Ianto mused. The insanity of that thought caused Ianto to giggle. Jack looked back and raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything.
When they reached the main hub there was another woman there. She had brown curly hair and olive skin and looked to be handing Tosh some money. She looked up as Jack and Ianto entered into her view. She put on a clearly forced smile. Jack seemed to be fooled though.
"Susie, meet Torchwood's new support officer Ianto Jones," said Jack. Susie extended her hand to Ianto and he shook it.
"He doesn't need to introduce me to you. I assume you know everything about us the way you've been stocking us the last two months," she said to Ianto her fake smile never faltering.
Ianto was tempted to share just how much he did know about the woman but decided to play nice. So plastering on his on fake smile he said "it's nice to meet you Susie."
Fifteen minutes later and Ianto was in the tourist center trying to make it presentable when the entrance door chimed open. Dr. Owen Harper walked through ear buds in his ears and eyes locked on an ipod in his hands, not even noticing Ianto until Ianto pushed the button to open the wall. Owen looked up and gave Ianto a questioning stare. Ianto gave him a nervous little wave.
"When did he give into you then?" Owen said removing the ear buds from his ears.
"Last night around 8:30," said Ianto.
Owen sighed and walked back to the centers entrance. He opened the door and flipped the open sign to close. He then shut and locked the door. "Come on then newbie," he said waving Ianto towards the hidden wall "let's go get your physical over with."
Before Ianto knew it he was sitting on the autopsy table in the medical bay sans shirt, with the good doctor standing in front of him holding what appeared to be his medical history report.
"How long ago did you get those burns?" Owen said pointing to Ianto's chest and forearms.
Ianto looked down at them. "4 months," he answered truthfully.
"Well then," said Owen "they are healing quite well. What happened when you were 17 to cause you to have hypothermia?"
"I got tossed off a boat in the middle of Cardiff Bay when it was below freezing out." Ianto answered again truthfully.
Owen asked few more nosy questions, checked Ianto's vitals, and drew some blood before he finally let Ianto put his shirt back on and go back to work.
The rest of Ianto's first day went by pretty easy. At noon he got lunch for the team, at 4 he closed the tourist center. At 6 he stopped working in the archives and got dinner for the team. While eating dinner a beeping sound started going off throughout the hub.
Tosh went to her computer "Something's come through in Grangetown." she said.
Jack got up from the table, "okay team let's go check it out. Ianto you can call it a day just remember to lock up." And like that Ianto was left alone in the Hub. He could hardly believe how easily he had been trusted.