CH 9
Ianto had survived his first road trip with Jack and had actually had quite a lot of fun. He had enjoyed getting to know Mickey, Andy, Suzy, Eugene, Gwen, Martha and the rest of the road crew, but what he had enjoyed the most was getting to know Jack better. Ianto had never really had a "best friend" but he felt that way about Jack. Being with Jack was so easy and comfortable and fun. Never mind the sexual tension that was palpable, and the dreams, and the fantasies. Ianto tried to push all of that to the back and focus on his new found friendship. He really did love Lisa and wanted a life with her and he couldn't jeopardize that with his silly infatuation with Jack Harkness; after all, Ianto was a sensible, pragmatic man.
The first night home Lisa wanted to know all about Jack and the trip even though Ianto had called her daily while they were gone. Ianto talked a little bit about the trip and the fact that he and Jack had become fast friends, but he said he didn't really want to talk about work that much.
"I've missed you. Two and a half weeks is a long time not to do this…" He pulled her close and kissed her slowly. She responded and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Mmmmm. I've missed you too. It was lonely sleeping by myself." She stuck her lip out in a pout. "I think you have some making up to do."
Ianto wrapped his arms tighter around her waist and nuzzled into her neck, kissing and sucking on the sensitive flesh. "I guess we better get started then." Ianto laid her back on the sofa, covering her body with his own and they did indeed get started.
The following morning Ianto went to Jack's and let himself in. He got the coffee started and went to the office to check his e-mail. He hadn't been there long when Jack appeared in the doorway. "Good morning Ianto."
Ianto smiled and looked up at his boss. "Good morning Jack."
"How are you this morning?"
"Brilliant!" Ianto chirped in an enthusiastic tone.
Jack's smile grew wider. "I take it Lisa, uh, missed you." He waggled his eyebrows to emphasize what he was getting at.
Ianto felt his face flush with embarrassment. "Yes, um, it was good to see her." He quickly got up and brushed past Jack. "Coffee?" He asked as he headed to the kitchen without making eye contact with Jack. 'God, how did Jack always make him feel like a thirteen year old with a crush on his teacher!'
"Sounds great!" Jack followed behind the younger man.
Ianto prepared Jack's coffee just the way he liked it and handed the cup to him. Their hands brushed against one another, sending a spark through them both. Neither man hurried to move his hand. Jack had noticed over the course of the tour that this often occurred; starting with the airplane flight and many other times during the tour. Jack consciously would put his hand on Ianto's shoulder, or press his leg against the younger man's, or brush his hand against Ianto's and Jack noticed that Ianto never made any concerted effort to break the contact. Jack longed for any contact he could get with the Welshman and if Ianto wasn't going to protest, he wasn't going to stop.
"So Jack, is there anything specific you need me to do today? I planned on unpacking, getting some things to the cleaners, checking on your travel supplies and getting some things from the market for you."
"No, that sounds like it should cover it. There really isn't a big rush on the dry cleaning. I don't have any other performances for a few weeks. I guess what I'm saying is that you don't have to do everything today."
"I like to make sure everything is set. You never know what's going to come up."
"I know, I'm just saying that you don't need to stress yourself out to get it all done today. Unless you want to get it all done so you don't have to come over so much." Jack hoped he was able to conceal his disappointment at that thought.
"No! That's not it at all. I kind of expected to come over every day whether I had a list of things to do or not. Do you not want me coming over all of the time?" Ianto felt a little panicked; maybe Jack didn't really want him hanging about all of the time.
"No! That's not what I meant either. I really enjoy your company Ianto, having you here is definitely not a problem for me. It's just; I had told you that you would have a lot more time off than you did with your job at the Centre. I don't want you to feel like I'm not keeping with what I had said. I'll tell you what; let's say you come over every day, at least for a little while and if there isn't much to do, you leave early. And no weekends unless we have an event. You deserve to have at least some time off."
"Agreed."
So, that's what they did. Ianto completed everything he had set out to do that day and would return the next day.
When he returned to his flat that evening Lisa had made them a nice dinner. They chatted as they ate.
"Oh, Rhiannon called. She wants us to come over to their's on Saturday for dinner. I told her I would have you call her since I wasn't sure what your work schedule was going to be like."
"Well, believe it or not, I don't have to work. Just like Jack had said, I have more free time. Do you want to go?"
"Yeah! She won't believe that we can actually make it; after asking so many times and us having to say no."
"It'll be nice."
After dinner he gave his sister a call to set things up.
The next morning at Jack's, Ianto got a call from Owen.
"Hey Ianto, I've got a bunch of fan mail and a couple of contracts for Jack to sign. Do you think you could come by and pick them up?"
"Sure Owen. I'll be there in about an hour."
Ianto finished up what he was doing and let Jack know that he was going over to Owen's. When he got there Tosh answered the door.
"Hi Ianto! Come in. Owen stepped out to get me something, but he will be back straight away."
"No problem. Wow, Tosh, that baby is really growing. How are you feeling?"
"Oh, I feel great. My biggest issue is all of the crazy cravings I've been having. Actually, that's where Owen is now; getting me some pickles."
"Pickles don't sound like a crazy craving."
"Well, no, I guess not. But it's not just the pickles I want. I've been eating pickle sandwiches with peanut butter like mad!"
"Oh. I guess peanut butter and pickle is a little, uh, different."
Tosh chuckled a little. "Yeah, a little. So Ianto, how did things go on the road trip? Did Jack behave himself?"
Ianto's face lit up as he started talking. "It went really well. Jack was great. I really enjoyed it and got to know everyone a lot better."
"So you think the job with Jack is going to work out?"
"Yes. Why shouldn't it?" Ianto puzzled.
"Oh, no, it should be fine. It's just, Jack can be..." she paused, being cautious how she phrased things. "...very forward. I know you have a girlfriend and I wasn't sure if his behavior would bother you."
"Oh, you mean how he flirts with nearly everyone he meets? No, it's been fine. I picked up on that early on, it's not a problem. We actual are becoming quite good friends." He smiled again, thinking of Jack.
Tosh took note of his smile and actually became even more worried, but she didn't let on what she was thinking. It wasn't Jack's flirting with everyone else that she was concerned about. She had sat there when Jack had talked to Owen about his interest in Ianto and just took it all in. As she sat with Ianto, she could see that Ianto was feeling much the same way about Jack, whether he wanted to admit it or not. She worried that someone was going to end up hurt.
Owen came bursting through the door. "Okay Tosh! I got three jars this time. That should last you a while."
Ianto stood as Owen walked in.
"Oh, hey Ianto. Sorry, had to take care of my sweetheart."
Tosh took the bag from him and gave him a chaste kiss. "Thank you baby."
"Come on into my office Ianto." He walked to another room with Ianto trailing behind. Owen pulled a large brown paper bag with handles up off of the floor and sat it on the desk.
"This is the mail. Of course, most of it is fan mail. In the office at Jack's you should have plenty of his publicity photos to send out in response to a lot of it. You just have to go through to see what you've got." He then opened a drawer and pulled out three files with the contracts Jack needed to sign. Owen went over each one with Ianto so that he could fill Jack in on what was what.
"Okay. Do I need to bring these contracts back today?"
"Nah, just by the end of the week. So how did everything go on the tour?"
"It went great, no problems at all."
"Good. So you got a pretty good feel for how things go, what Jack likes?"
It seemed pretty clear to Ianto that Owen's question was primarily about the after show "activities" more than anything. He felt a little embarrassed talking about it, but responded.
"Yes, everything was fine."
"Okay. Off you go then! Tell Jack I'll give him a call about dinner on Friday."
When Ianto returned to Jack's he was in the office using his computer. "Hey Ianto, what's in the bag?"
"The mail. I also have the contracts."
"Let's see."
Ianto picked up the three files and walked over to Jack's desk. He sat the files down and opened the first one. He began going over the information Owen had gone over with him. Jack leaned forward, looking over the file. When he got to a certain portion that Owen had high-lighted, he looked up at Ianto. "What's this?"
Ianto leaned over Jack's shoulder to go over the section with him. Ianto's body pressed into Jack's back as he leaned in and when he did, Jack's amazing smell assaulted him. It briefly took his breath away and he couldn't speak. Jack again turned his head to look up at the younger man. Ianto stumbled over his words as he began trying to explain the section to Jack.
It excited Jack to see that he was having an effect on Ianto. He wasn't going to full-on pursue him because he really did respect Ianto's devotion to Lisa, but this just re-enforced that there was still a possibility. He returned his attention to the contracts.
After they finished with the contracts, Ianto had to send a few messages out and make some calls. When that was done, he pulled the bag full of mail up onto the desk with a sigh.
"Hey Ianto, don't worry about that today. We can work on that tomorrow. You've done more than enough for one day. Go ahead and head home and I will see you tomorrow."
"Okay Jack. I'll see you in the morning."
The next morning after the coffee was made, Ianto jumped into the mail. He had been at it for about thirty minutes when Jack appeared.
"Morning."
"Hi Jack." Ianto noticed that Jack had already helped himself to a cup of coffee and brought it in with him.
Ianto was reading through fan mail and handing off the requests for autographed photos to Jack. Ianto opened up a small package and had to smirk. It contained a lacy, skimpy pair of women's knickers. Ianto stood, holding them in front of his crotch.
"Um, Jack?"
Jack looked up and an ear to ear smile graced his face. "Ianto, I didn't figure you as the type, but I have to say I wouldn't mind seeing you in them."
Ianto rolled his eyes, although he was sure he was blushing at the thought. "Do you frequently receive women's knickers in the post?"
"Occasionally. I prefer that the owner comes with them though." He waggled his eyebrows and Ianto again rolled his eyes.
"I would imagine you get some pretty unusual offers from fans."
"Yeah, sometimes. But it's all good fun. I try and be careful though. You never know when some psycho might take an interest. That's why I never bring anyone home to the house; always a hotel."
"I guess that makes sense."
"But really, as you've seen, people are great. It humbles me." Ianto gave Jack a smile.
xoxoxoxo
By the time Saturday rolled around Ianto was looking forward to seeing his sister and her family. It had been quite a while since he had spent any time with them. When he and Lisa arrived Mica came bounding up to greet them.
"Hi Uncle Ianto! Hi Lisa!" She wrapped her arms around Lisa's waist. She had really taken to Lisa when they had been there before. Rhiannon interrupted their little reunion.
"Okay Mica, out of the way so they can get in." She looked at Ianto. "I wasn't going to believe it until you actually got here, and here you are. I don't think you've had a weekend off in years. Come on then." She showed them inside.
Johnny came in from the other room. "Johnny, get Ianto and Lisa something to drink. Beer okay?"
"Sure." They responded in unison.
Johnny brought them all a beer before sitting down. Before they started talking Rhiannon bellowed out, "David, come say hi to your Uncle Ianto!"
David came running down the stairs sounding like a herd of elephants. "Hi Uncle Ianto. Hi Lisa." He turned around and ran right back up the stairs.
The four adults started chatting and Mica went back to her video game. The conversation wound its way to Ianto's new job.
"So let's have it. Besides having the weekends off, what's the new job like?" Rhiannon questioned.
Ianto began. "It's great. I am doing a lot of the same type of things I was doing at the Centre, but not on such a grand scale and with only one client. It's really been a lot of fun so far."
Rhiannon interrupted. "Yeah, but what's it like working for a gorgeous star? Is he eccentric, demanding, cocky?"
"He's just a regular guy. One of the nicest guys you'll ever meet."
"Oooooo! Can you introduce me to him? He is absolutely gorgeous!"
"Rhi, he's not some 'thing' to show off, he's a person. I don't think it would be appropriate for me to try and introduce everyone I know to him."
Johnny then spoke up. "Rhiannon and her girlfriends are all hot and bothered by him but I heard that he was a poofter."
"Shut the fuck up Johnny! You don't know anything about him. Besides, it's none of your fucking business anyway!" Ianto got up and left the room. Once in the other room, he started to calm a bit.
The three remaining adults shared looks among themselves before Lisa got up. "I'll go check on him."
When Lisa entered the kitchen Ianto's back was to her. She gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "Ianto, are you okay?"
He turned to face her. "Yeah. Sorry about that. Johnny can be such a fucking wanker though. What Jack does with his personal life is his business. He's a good man and that's what is important."
Lisa wrapped her arms around his neck. "You're right. Johnny can be immature and petty. I think it's great that you stood up for your friend."
Ianto gave her a small smile and leaned in to give her a kiss before they returned to the other room. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Rhiannon jabbed her elbow into Johnny's side.
"Uh, sorry Ianto. I didn't mean anything by it."
Ianto's only response was a small grunt.
It wasn't long before they were all laughing and talking once again. They had a nice dinner and finished up with more conversation. The evening ended on a pleasant note and the group said their goodbyes.
Lying in bed that night Ianto thought about his earlier reaction to Johnny's statement. Why had he reacted so strongly to what Johnny said?
