AN- I'm going to beg you not to kill me XD Many thanks to you all who have reviewed. I'm working on the next chapter, and have several plotted out and waiting to be written.
Massive sparkly cupcakes to Rietta for her support and advice with this chapter...and June's gonna be WICKED:P
Chapter 9- You're the only one who really knew me at all.
May turned to June in a swirl of rain, sun, blue skies and more rain. Not that rain was unusual for Cardiff. Jack was rather amused to note that the rain had matched his mood on more than one occasion. He closed his eyes and leant back on the sofa, listening as Ianto opened and closed cupboards around him, muttering to himself as he made a list of food and other items they needed to pick up from the supermarket. How he'd become roped into going grocery shopping with Ianto was beyond him, but then he'd been too tired the night before to really pay attention to what the Welshman had said to him; it wasn't until he'd awoken that morning to Ianto banging his door down telling him that they had to leave in fifty minutes if they wanted to miss the morning rush that he'd remembered.
"Do you want more Salad Cream?" Ianto asked, waving a bottle, half empty, at the back of Jack's head.
Turning, Jack eyed the bottle and shook his head. "No, it'll be fine."
Ianto nodded and placed the bottle back in its place on the shelf and then headed to the bathroom. "How are you for toilet roll?"
"I'll pick some up on the way round!"
Ianto acknowledged his call with a wave of his hand, and Jack closed his eyes, remembering other things that the hand had done in the past. He shook his head to clear the images and smiled as Ianto appeared again and nodded.
"Ready?" Ianto smiled.
Jack nodded and picked up his car keys. They had always used Jack's Vogue for shopping, just because it had more room. Ianto's own car, a BMW three series, was built more for speed and ideal for the camping holidays they had taken in the past. Though after the last one, Jack doubted they would have ever gone again. Once they had locked up and climbed in the car Jack raised his eyebrows.
"I ask this every time… Tesco, Sainsbury's or Asda?"
Ianto snorted. "And I always answer Asda!"
"Cardiff Bay it is," Jack grinned.
Ianto rolled his eyes. "Can you try and get us there in one piece?"
Jack chuckled. "I can try, but then, where's the fun in that?"
"I tend to call it living..."
"I think that's overrated."
"Oh really?"
Jack smiled widely. "Oh you love it!"
"Well, it makes the journey a bit less boring."
"See! I knew I could convert you to love speed. Maybe now you'll push the BMW to its limits; that poor thing has been screaming to be let loose on the motorways since you bought it."
Ianto laughed. "I didn't know cars had feelings."
"Why do you think I named them?"
"You named our cars?"
Jack nodded. "Yeah," he stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What names did you bestow on our cars then?" Ianto closed his eyes in anticipation.
"Well, I say I named them... I never actually got round to it, I was debating between Janet or something more Welsh."
Ianto rolled his eyes. "You just don't want to tell me!"
Jack glanced at Ianto out of the corner of his eye, refusing to remove his focus from the road. "Actually, I just don't want to crash the car, and knowing you as I do I have no doubt that your reaction would be fatally distracting."
Ianto snorted again, and the last minute or two of the journey passed in silence. The Welshman had been serious about not wanting to die in a car accident.
Pushing a trolley round a supermarket wasn't Jack's favourite task, but he tended to amuse himself with the names of items, or by glancing at the child alternatives the stores provided to get children to eat certain products. How Green Giant ever managed to convince kids that if they ate sweetcorn they'd become Green Giants was beyond him.
He chuckled to himself as he watched Ianto hold two tins of beans in his hands and debate of which one would be better. It was one of the things he had always loved about Ianto, his ability to be so organised he even debated over a brand of beans. Deciding that he'd had enough of watching, he pushed his trolley a bit faster and lifted his feet, letting the momentum carry him forward towards Ianto; who, as if sensing an impending crash, had spun around and caught the trolley before it crashed into him.
"See this is why I married you!" Jack laughed as the trolley ground to a halt.
Ianto produced an eye roll which could have been felt in Newport. "It's why I'm divorcing you!"
"You wound me, Jones!"
"But you love me really."
"Forever and ever, Bean." Jack had spoken so quietly he wasn't even sure if he'd actually spoken out loud, but judging from Ianto's reaction he must have. Ianto's eyes widened and he stared at Jack for a moment as something passed between them. Abruptly Ianto turned back to the shelf, grabbed a four pack of Branston baked beans and dumped them in the trolley before scuttling off to the next isle.
Jack cursed himself in several languages before sighing and following Ianto into the drinks aisle. He briefly wondered if he could sneak a bottle of vodka into the trolley: he only ever drank that when he felt so bad even tears wouldn't make him feel right, and boy did he need it right now.
Tosh wasn't a gossip by nature. However, her best friend, Gwen, was. So when she received the phone call demanding that she meet up with her and Ianto immediately at Torchwood café, she assumed it was for the announcement that all their friends had been waiting for from Gwen and Rhys.
However, upon arrival, she found a slightly red-eyed Ianto with Gwen rubbing his arm consolingly.
"What?" she asked as soon as she'd sat down- ordering a drink could wait.
Gwen quickly recited what Ianto had told her. "Jack and Ianto went supermarket shopping this morning, bit of banter going on, and noggin here pipes up with 'But you love me' and Jack, the twypsn that he is, agrees with him, saying 'Forever and ever, Bean'- he only ever calls Ianto that in private, never mind the middle of the supermarket!"
Tosh was suitably stunned. "But I thought..." she trailed off. "Wasn't he the one to suggest the dissolution in the first place?"
Ianto nodded. "And now I feel like I need to stop him... but what if it was just because of habit?"
"Habit?" Gwen asked.
"You know, we've been together ten years, we've picked up lots of little habits… What if it was just a 'caught in the moment' thing?"
Tosh sighed. "Look, it's been obvious to us all since you and Jack announced the dissolution that it's a mistake, but Jack thinks it's for the best. All these little moments that have happened since which you've told us about: the almost kiss, the DVD's, the photos… they're all contributing to placing a small amount of doubt in Jack's mind."
"Not enough," Ianto sighed. "Jack got a phone call earlier, while we were shopping. Well, I was shopping, he was skidding the trolley round. Anyway, the offer he put in for the flat has been accepted. He moves out on July thirty-first; that's just under two months away!"
Tosh and Gwen shared a look as a waiter appeared. They quickly ordered their coffees and didn't speak again until the waiter had brought their orders to them and gone off to take another group's orders.
"What have you done to fight for him?"
"You mean apart from try to seduce him whilst cleaning?" Ianto asked.
"Yes."
He shrugged. "Not much. I make him coffee in the morning, and I've taken to flirting with him."
"The coffee's good." Gwen grinned. "It's something he'll miss when he goes, if he gets out the door. The flirting, you've done that your whole relationship, it's normal. What you've got to do is make him realise what he's missing."
Tosh raised her eyebrows. "That's right, you could go out on a date..."
Ianto choked on his mouthful of coffee. "With who?"
Tosh and Gwen shared a look and then grinned. "Adam Smith."
Packing seemingly meaningless things into boxes labelled with 'Random' and 'Junk' was rather tedious, Jack noted to himself as he sorted through his books and placed them into the box that was accordingly labelled. He laughed to himself as he found books from university: text books, fictional books he'd read for enjoyment, and his battered copy of 'The Picture of Dorian Grey', his favourite book. Tucked amongst them was a leather-bound photo album, which he opened with great care. Photos of his family... His mother and father smiled out at him from their wedding picture, next to which lay a similar picture of his brother Gray's wedding. He sighed and closed the book, placing it in the box. The sound of 'Always on my mind' playing from nowhere jolted him out of his melancholy thoughts. He snatched his phone up from the bedside table and stared at the number on screen.
"Hello?"
"Bloody hell Harkness, you sound like shit."
"John?"
"I know we haven't spoken in well over three months, but I thought you might recognise my voice."
"I do, you just sound different."
"Oh, that's because I'm on the office phone, always makes us sound tinny."
"Why are you calling me?"
"Eye-Candy told me what happened."
"And you're calling me because?"
"If I know you at all, and I'd like to think I do, then I know you're letting all your friends rally round Ianto and not talking to any of them."
"John, what do you really want?"
"To get you out of the house so you can get it off your chest."
"I don't know, John..."
"Just a pint, I promise. I'm taken, by the way."
Jack raised his eyebrows. "Who by?"
"Fiesty young redhead called Donna Noble. Now come on."
Jack eyed the mess around him. "When and where?"
"Blue Box? Around Seven thirty."
"Sure, I could do with getting out the house."
"Eye-Candy won't mind you going for a drink with his boss?"
"Nope; we were talking about you yesterday actually..."
"Anything interesting?"
"Nope, we just wondered where you'd vanished to."
"Oh! Well, I got a bit distracted."
"Did this Donna have anything to do with that?"
"No..."
"John, don't lie."
"Fine, I met her and she came into my life and now I don't know what to do with myself when she's not around… She's currently on a business trip in London and staying the weekend to visit her family."
"And you suddenly remembered the existence of your poor friends?"
"Forgive me?"
"Only because you forgave me when I first met Ianto. But you have to apologise to the others yourself."
"Deal."
"Bye, John."
"Later Gorgeous."
As he hung up the phone, Jack shook his head. John could be the most annoying man in the world, but if anyone hurt his friends, or if someone was upset, he was the first one there with the vodka shots and a shoulder to cry on.
