Chapter Fourteen
Lisa looked up as Ianto came in from work. "Hey, good day?"
Ianto nodded, looking a little tired but still with a smile on his face. "Was okay."
"So," she smirked, "I didn't hear you get home last night. Again."
A blush worked its way up Ianto's neck and one hand came up to rub at his nape. "Um… well…"
Lisa's smirk grew wider at Ianto's clear embarrassment. "You know, it doesn't bother me that you sometimes stay over in the Hub with Jack after you've been out. Or any other time, for that matter. You've been seeing each other for nearly two months, I'd be more surprised if you didn't spend the night sometimes."
Ianto's blush just deepened. "Erm…"
Lisa laughed. "You're so cute when you're embarrassed, Ianto."
Ianto glared at her and loosened his tie. "I… I'm not embarrassed. I just… don't want to discuss this with you right now."
Lisa just raised an eyebrow at him. "Try that one someone who doesn't know you, Ianto Jones. Your 'embarrassed' look hasn't changed one iota since I first met you when you were 16."
"I'm… okay, so maybe I am a tiny little bit embarrassed," conceded Ianto, "but I think I have good reason to be. And I still don't want to talk about it."
Lisa blithely ignored protestations. "You should really just bring him back here, you know. I've seen Jack's little room at the Hub, and that can't be comfortable. It's barely big enough for one person, let alone two, and-"
"Lisa!" Ianto choked out, interrupting her. "Please, stop." He took a breath. "I am not bringing Jack back here for… to spend the night. Besides the fact that it would leave the Hub unmonitored overnight – and I'm not sure Jack would agree to that – it's just… The very idea just feels all wrong to me."
"If I wasn't your ex-girlfriend, would you be okay with it?" Lisa asked.
Ianto threw up his hands. "But you are. It's not like that's about to change."
"I know, I know," she soothed. "But, hypothetically, if I was just some random friend, would you be fine with bringing Jack back?"
Ianto hesitated for a second. "If Jack was fine with it… then probably, yes. But that's all hypothetical. You're not just 'some random friend', and I feel really awkward about it."
"You don't have to, though," Lisa said. "I don't."
Ianto sighed. "Yes, but don't you think you should? I mean… we were together for years, and then I start seeing Jack practically as soon as we break up and…"
"Which I encouraged you to do, if you remember," Lisa interjected.
He made a strangled noise in his throat. "I know, but it doesn't make me feel any more comfortable about this." He looked hard at her. "Can you really imagine getting up in the morning for breakfast and finding Jack here and that not being just a little bit weird?"
Lisa semi-shrugged. "Maybe a little, the first time, but no more so than it was when I was living with Tracey at Uni, I don't think."
Ianto looked supremely unconvinced, and Lisa noticed it.
"Look," she started pragmatically, "why don't you just try it and see? Next time you guys go out, or stay in, or whatever, invite him back. If it's really awkward, like you think it will be, then you never need to do it again."
Ianto was still sceptical, but nodded.
Jack was fully dressed and had a coffee mug held to his lips, his eyes closed in an expression of contented bliss, when Lisa stumbled into the kitchen in her pyjamas a few mornings later. Ianto turned from the coffee machine, his own mug of freshly poured coffee in hand, at her entrance.
"Morning," he said, a faintly cautious undertone to his voice. "Umm… sleep okay?"
Lisa nodded. "Yeah, thanks. You?" Her eyebrows lifted in a lascivious waggle that Ianto was sure she'd picked up from Jack.
Ianto grinned, pushing away the slight lingering uncomfortable feeling in the back of his mind. "I slept just fine, thanks."
Lisa turned her gaze on Jack. "I'd ask how you slept, but I know that you don't, really."
Jack smirked. "Oh, if someone tires me out in just the right way I do." His sidelong glance at Ianto was filled with a heady mix of affection and deep lust; he clearly wasn't feeling any of the mild discomfiture Ianto was. "And someone to snuggle up to doesn't hurt, either."
Lisa, much to Ianto's relief, just grinned.