Author note: Today's song is Rain, by Mika. I'm hooked on it!


Days Like This

Ianto slammed the tray down, eliciting a bone shuddering crunch that made Jack look up from his desk, startled, and Gwen try to hunker down with her work, not wanting to get involved.

"Ianto?" Jack called across the room. "Hey, you alright?"

"Fine!" snapped Ianto. "I'm just peachy."

Gwen really did not want to get involved. Rising from her seat, she said, "Jack, I'm just going to cross reference this with something down in the Archives. Back in a tick."

Jack scowled at her back as she retreated. Once she had left, he stuck his hands in his pockets and wandered along the grilled pathways of the Hub to reach the kitchen area. He might even have affected a weak attempt at a whistle as he went.

Another crash as Ianto shoved the cleaned mugs viciously into their respective cupboards.

"Ianto?" He turned, and Jack gasped. "What the hell happened?"

"It's nothing," mumbled Ianto.

"Hell if it is," said Jack. He took a step towards him, catching the slight flinch of Ianto's clenched fists. "Tell me what happened. You only went out to run an errand!"

"I tripped. Out on the Plass. Those stupid steps." Ianto attempted a smile. It came out more like a grimace, and Jack was helpless not to hug him then.

"I don't believe that for a second," said Jack. He tilted Ianto's face using the pad of his thumb, gentle yet thorough. "Who did this?"

Ianto looked at him with wide eyes. "I actually am serious, Jack. I tripped. I bruise easy, you know that."

Jack recalled the many times he'd had to deal with Ianto's bruises, hating each purpled inflammation for the pain it caused the younger man, loathing that every mark was his own fault. "Guess I do," he said eventually. "Was that an overreaction I just had?"

"It might have been, yes. Although I do like the avenging angel thing you had going on for a moment."

"Yeah?"

Ianto quirked his lips into something resembling a real smile for a second. "Yes," he said.

"I worry, you know?"

"I know."

Jack glanced down. "You changed your tie."

"Spilled coffee on it."

"But that was the red one..."

A deep breath. "I know."

"So, basically, having a bad day, then?" said Jack.

"That would about sum it up, yes."

"Want me to make it better?"

"You could try—"

Jack cut him off with a finger to his lips. "I don't know about try," he said. "Captain Jack Harkness doesn't do things by half."

"Prove it," said Ianto.

Gwen came back with her arms full of paperwork to find the pair sprawled over the kitchen counters. She sighed and beat back a retreat to the Archives. It was going to be a long day.