Monday morning brought with it a surprise.
Ianto arrived at school much too early, excited to see Jack and to get them tickets to prom, and he was just retrieving his books for his first period calc class from his locker, when someone stepped into his peripheral vision and leaned gracefully against the lockers to his right. His head jerked up; he didn't expect any of his friends to show up this early, not even the ever knowledge-hungry Tosh. And yet there was Jack, eyeing him from under squinted lids, a small, fidgety smile dancing on his lips.
'Is this some kind of new way of rebelling?,' Ianto asked him without greeting. 'Coming to school before everyone else?'
Jack chuckled. 'I had an errand to run.'
He held up his hand with a couple of pieces of stiff cream-coloured paper.
'I invited you, I should've got us tickets!,' Ianto protested.
'The one thing from my folks that I don't mind accepting is cash, so I'm making use of it. You can buy me a corsage.' Jack grinned.
'Yeah, right.' Ianto rolled his eyes. 'Don't make me look like a cheap date. I like doing things properly.'
Jack let out a mock-annoyed huff.
'But I am a cheap date, and anyway, doing things properly is not really my style.'
Not giving the other boy a chance to reply, he leaned in, and kissed Ianto on the mouth, surprising him enough to make him forget they were standing in the middle of a school hallway that was just about to fill with other students. So he didn't hold back, and neither did Jack.
Needless to say, by the time they pulled apart, they were out of breath.
'That was- pretty properly done,' Ianto panted out.
'I make exceptions sometimes.'
'You're impossible, did you know that?' He tried to sound peeved, even though he knew it was useless. He just couldn't really get mad at him, and all he sounded like was affectionate.
'Yes, I did.'
Ianto slammed his locker shut with another roll of his eyes, and began walking towards his calculus classroom. Jack followed him without a word, too busy biting back a smile, with his hands behind his back. They'd walked no more than twenty feet, when Ianto turned around abruptly.
'But I'm picking you up. And I will get you a bloody corsage if you want me to. And all you can do is agree to colour-coordinate.'
Jack stopped dumb-stricken a feet from him, staring back with an expression of shock and awe mixed together thoroughly.
'Alright,' he said eventually.
'Good.' Ianto grinned at him with self-satisfaction and without another word, headed for the classroom.
At home, the prom became a secret between mother and son. Or rather, the details about it did. Both Mr. Jones and Rhiannon knew about the dance the following Saturday, and were aware that Ianto was going with his usual group of friends. However, they were informed that he didn't have a date (which didn't fail to elicit a nasty comment from his father, about how he was a cry baby, still pining after Lisa – he had not an inkling of just how wrong he was; and Rhiannon had her suspicions, but kept her mouth shut for the sake of her little brother).
Mrs. Jones knowing about Ianto's date turned out to be a blessing. She showed up at his room on Monday, right after he came back from school, asking if he could pop out to the shops with her.
'S'pose I could. What do you need me for?,' he inquired, surprised she wanted him to go with her (he had a habit of being critical of whatever outfit she chose for herself or one of the other members of the Jones family; he usually complained about the quality of the fabrics).
'I thought we should get you a suit for Saturday. I'm not letting you rent a tuxedo, it seems unsanitary.'
He was shocked, wide-eyed and speechless, but he had enough wits left to scramble to his feet and hurry to the car with her. It was hard to tell what made him more ecstatic – going shopping for quality formal wear (which he had a slightly embarrassing soft spot for) or knowing his mother had his back.
They spent the afternoon going from shop to shop in search of the perfect three-piece suit. Finally, Ianto picked a classy black one that fit him just right and a dress shirt to match. His mother was the one to choose a tie for him: an indigo one with delicate light blue stripes.
When Ianto was tracing his fingers down the soft silk necktie, he caught sight of another one in the corner of his eye. It was placed strategically right next to the one his mother had picked for him, right where he'd been called over to accept her choice. Not only did the other tie match the one his mum was going to get him, it was its exact reverse: light blue, indigo pinstripes.
'Mam?,' he started sheepishly. She was already being very liberal with both her attitude and their spending. 'Could I get this one as well?'
She glanced at the tie he was indicating and a knowing smile brightened her features.
'Of course you can.'
And as cheesy as the prom affair was, Ianto couldn't help the intensified fluttering in his stomach that nauseated him in an almost pleasant way. He couldn't wait to see Jack in the tie, even though he wasn't certain the other boy would agree to wear it without a fight (Ianto was determined to win whatever battle was ahead of him). This prom had to go just right. To him, there was no other option. Whatever would happen later with him and Jack, he wanted this one perfect night to cherish.
There was one other thing he needed in order to achieve that, but he wasn't quite brave or bold enough to straight out ask his mother for money. He intended to gather his savings and do his best with them, but then, his mother surprised him once more.
'Do you think they'll still have vacancies at the hotel on such a late date?,' she asked him matter-of-factly.
'Huh?' He almost choked on air.
'That's the practice in America, isn't it? Getting a hotel room after the prom, especially when the prom is held at a hotel?'
'Er- er- Yeah, I guess it is,' he stammered. 'But mam, you know that- er- I have a date, and- er- the hotel room is not supposed to be a single one?'
She waved her hand and laughed.
'I'm not thick-headed, love, I know what the hotel room is for.' They stopped simultaneously in the middle of the busy mall. 'I trust that you're mature enough to make decisions for yourself. And that you know better than not to be safe, yeah?' He nodded awkwardly, his eyes wandering everywhere but his mother's face. 'At least I'm pretty sure I don't need to worry about becoming a grandmother. For now.'
'At least for now,' he agreed, biting down an embarrassed smile. 'Thanks, mam.'
She took his hand affectionately and rubbed its back gently with her thumb.
'You're my little boy, and I'll do anything for you to be happy. Your dad could have something against what's going on in your life, if he knew, but that's not important. You are, and I can see you've been so much better recently.'
He smiled wider. Yes, he had been so much better.
That wasn't the end of Ianto's prom shopping. Even though he was all set for Saturday night (including having booked one of the last available rooms at the hotel and spending a small fortune on it with his mother's blessing), Toshiko and Gwen were still in need of dresses. On Tuesday afternoon, they wandered from shop to shop in order to find the perfect dresses for both of them. Ianto was dragged along under the pretence of being the best advisor among the boys, but he was expecting them to start grilling him about Jack any minute.
Eventually, Toshiko got a lovely lilac dress made of delicate chiffon, and a pair of high-heeled silvery sandals. The gown reached just below her knees, and – to her horror – showed off her cleavage. That last detail was what made both Gwen and Ianto push for her to buy it, and she couldn't help but cave.
Gwen ended up choosing an emerald dress with a deep neckline (no persuasions were needed here) and an asymmetric skirt, as well as a pair of lushly sequined golden high heels and long sparkly earrings that matched them in colour.
Despite the girls' ulterior motives for taking him along, Ianto proved to be good at giving advice indeed, and he approved or critiqued their outfit options constructively. They were delighted with his compliments and suggestions, and pledged to never shop without him again (he wasn't sure how he felt about it yet).
After the exhausting hours of shopping, they decided to skip home dinner and got pizza at Domino's. As they were waiting for their order, the girls exchanged a glance and attacked, almost making Ianto choke on his drink.
'So, how are things with you and Jack?,' Gwen asked.
'Er- What do you mean?,' he said innocently.
'Oh, you know what!' Tosh could barely stop herself from jumping up and down in her seat. 'You disappeared together on Saturday. You can't possibly think we failed to notice.'
He sighed and slowly pushed his glass away, watching carefully his own movements.
'I don't think you did,' he answered. 'I just- There's nothing to talk about.'
'You're going to prom together,' Gwen stated, as if she was saying that water is wet.
Ianto raised his eyebrows in surprise.
'How do you know that?'
'Not difficult to figure out. Also, Jack told me.' She looked at him as if to say "quit stalling, spill."
He wasn't comfortable talking about his feelings. He never had been. He'd always been the type to bottle up his feelings and not let them show, even if it meant dying inside, anguish eating him up. He'd just plaster on a smile and trudge on.
So spill he didn't.
'We're just going to prom. Gwen, you're going with Rhys. Tosh, you and Owen are sort of going together-'
Toshiko sighed and dropped her eyes to her hands. She'd decided Owen had been drunk enough to not be held accountable of whatever he might've said at the bash.
'It's only logical me and Jack go together.'
Gwen sent him a dubious glance.
'Yeah, right. And no kind of hanky-panky was involved? And I'm guessing you haven't booked a room?'
As much as Ianto could control what he was saying, he had no power over the blush that crept to his face.
'I knew it!,' Gwen said so loudly that a couple of other patrons at the restaurant looked around at her; she wasn't bothered. 'Seriously, you two seem to be good together. I'm happy for you.'
She grew serious, and the smile she gave him at the end of that sentence was a sad one. But she was trying to move on, and she wasn't interfering. Ianto nodded in acknowledgement.
Tosh's phone went off, interrupting their conversation. She jumped up, startled, and dug the mobile out of her jacket pocket. At the sight of the caller ID, she frowned and looked up at her friends shocked.
'It's Owen.'
'Why're you so surprised?,' Ianto asked.
'He doesn't call me. He texts me if he needs anything,' she explained.
'Better pick up then,' Gwen said.
With a trembling finger, Tosh answered the call. The hubbub in the restaurant made it impossible for Gwen and Ianto to make out what Owen was saying, so all they heard was half of the conversation.
'Hi, Owen,' Toshiko said anxiously into the receiver. 'Why?' Her eyes bulged and she stared at her friends in shock, probably without actually seeing them. 'Oh, I thought- Um, nevermind. It's lilac- Sort of- light violet? Um, okay, that's fine. See you tomorrow.' She hesitated before hanging up. 'Owen?,' she said hurriedly, hoping he hadn't ended the call yet. 'You don't have to do this- Oh, okay. Thanks, I guess. Bye.'
She dropped the hand in which she was holding her phone to her lap, a stunned expression still on her face.
'He wanted to ask what colour my dress is,' she stammered.
'We figured that much,' Ianto said. 'And?'
'He asked because he needed to know what colour his tie is supposed to be,' she told them, ecstasy breaking through the thick layer of shock. 'He actually remembered what he'd said.'
Gwen clapped her hands enthusiastically.
'Yay, Harper's beginning to act like an adult! Go Owen! We should drink to that!'
They raised their sodas in toast.
'To Owen, doing what he should for once,' Gwen chanted.
'To Ianto and Jack,' Tosh added (and Ianto rolled his eyes).
'And to everyone having fun at prom on Saturday,' Ianto finished and they clank their glasses together.
A/N: I'm running out of chapters. The next one is almost written, but I've been crazy busy recently (and it's probably going to continue for the next few weeks), so no guarantees about the updates (which makes me feel terrible, but there is nothing I can do, work must be prioritised over fanfiction).
Oh, and if I get something terribly wrong culture-wise, please, don't hesitate to let me know, so I can try and fix it! My experience of American culture is very secondary (since I've never been to America yet, not to mention going to prom there), but I do appreciate constructive criticism and learning things.
