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A/N : First of all … a big thank you for all of the comments for the last chapter and also thanks to all of you who are still faithfully following this story.
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Secondly …. And this is mainly for any of you who may have read the last chapter within the first twenty four hours of it going up…
Now, I don't usually comment on the fact that sometimes story content goes missing, or that sometimes it manages to appear of its own volition without ever having existed in the first place ….. but, as the piece of text that went missing in this instance just happened to be not only Jack's message to Ianto, but also the title of the ruddy story itself I feel justified in giving it a mention, if only just to ensure that the dialogue of the coming chapter makes some kind of sense!
In my world, the 'x' as it originally appeared when the chapter first went up, read as xxJxx (for obvious reasons!) and it was only on my last ditch attempt at trying to get the wretched thing accepted, by using bold,that it actually managed to make it in to the story. So, if it's managed to disappear into the ether this time as well please bear all of this in mind!
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Okay …..
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Disclaimer : Jack and Ianto are not mine. (Leers suggestively then sobs with disappointment.)
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Content Warning : Minor suggestions of Auto and Assisted.
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N. B. : The practising of any or all 'techniques' mentioned herein is just plain daft …. and as they say on tv ….. please do not try any of these yourself at home! And if you do ….. and it all goes horribly wrong …. Don't come running to me! …. Oh, no, wait; you won't be able to, will you!
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Right, sorry about that….. I think I'm done now.
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Chapter Twenty One
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Something Beginning With …..
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"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come here; this was wrong." Jack tried to keep the emotion from his voice, the very least he could do was leave with a little dignity intact.
Jason smiled as he pushed himself higher up on his fore-arms. "Wrong? It felt alright to me."
"You know damn well that's not what I mean!" Jack took a step back to cross his arms. "How could you do this to him? Okay, maybe this makes me out to be just as much of a bastard as you, but I had my reasons for doing this. Why would you want to hurt him? When did you become so much like that boyfriend of yours?"
"Huh, you're just as bad as us, you're just better at covering it up, that's all ….." Jay's derisory snort cut deep.
"I am nothing like him!" Jack could feel himself gradually losing control of yet another situation and closed his eyes for a second as he looked down to the ground to regroup his resolve.
"It was you who called me, remember?" Jason reminded him as he watched him attempting but failing to appear calm as he looked back up at him.
Jack threw himself forward again, landing angrily with his palms sinking into the bed. "Not for this, I didn't! I just wanted to talk, to reason with you,"
"Okay, so talk away, I'm all ears."
"This is NOT a FUCKING joke, Jay! If he finds out about this it'll devastate him." Jack shook his head down at the blond. "The pair of us? Together? Ugh, God …" He stepped back cupping his face. "What the fuck was I thinking?"
"Don't worry about it." Jason let himself fall back down onto the bed, his arms automatically folding behind his head. "It's not as if you really know him, is it? Stop making such a big deal of it."
Jack lowered his hands slowly and deliberately then straightened to his full height. "You never mention this to anybody. Ever! Do you understand?"
Jason's eyes creased with delight as he laughed up at him. "Or what? What are you gonna do to me, eh, Jack? I'd have you out cold before you could even decide which fist to throw."
"Who said anything about violence?" He sent a hollow laugh back to him. "I mean, I take it Joe doesn't know that you're here; with me, in this room like this?"
The blond stilled, quietly assessing the situation before acknowledging Jack's move. "So, we're going down that route, are we?" He shook his head against his arms, grin growing wider. "And you say you're nothing like him ….."
"Look, we're done here. You got what you wanted so just stay the fuck away from him; that was the deal, remember?" He tried not to look as out of his depth as he was starting to feel.
He stared back at Jason as the man's eyes, as blue and as piercing as his own, fixed him with a challenging stare.
"Hmmm." Jason finally gazed up at the ceiling as he mulled things over. "Interesting. A done deal? Is that what you're calling this? I was thinking more along the lines of a down payment."
"NO! No more, Jay. This was a one off arrangement. You agreed. You said do this and you'd keep away from him."
"Oh, I don't think you're seeing the full implications here, Jack. I mean, if I can't get to fuck my lovely Ianto then I'm gonna have to get that particular form of pleasure elsewhere, aren't I ….. and who better than …"
Jack baulked and shook his head as Jason dragged one arm from beneath his head and swept a hand down towards him.
Fists balling with frustration he tried to control his voice. "You have Joe again. Why do you need Yan as well?" He straightened and folded his arms again; he needed to let him know he was serious. "If it comes to it, Jay, I will tell Joe, you know."
Jason slowly returned his arm to its original position, ruminating over this on-going quandary for just a second or two longer before admitting. "Okay, it seems we have each other firmly by the bollocks, here."
With Jack staring down at him; the threat of a smirk forming on his face, the other man finally laughed up at him and gave a deep sigh. "Oh, well; it was a nice idea while it lasted, but, okay, we can play this your way for now; you have your deal." He shrugged into the bottom sheet and nodded. "You keep that pretty mouth of yours shut ….. and I'll keep my distance. I just hope for your sake that you find my little Welsh friend worth making all this effort for."
"Just ….. stay …. away." Jack growled out the words to cover the uncertainty that he was still feeling. This could all still go horribly wrong. This was supposed to have been a friendly chat over a quick drink with himself just 'asking nicely' and, in return, Jason playing ball and just 'agreeing nicely'; nothing more.
He certainly hadn't banked on finding himself in this position. In fact this wasn't how he'd been expecting Jay to behave at all and although the man in question may have come across as a little self-centred at his birthday party, Jack had never had him pegged as the calculating and conniving bastard that he now appeared to be.
That softly spoken man that Ianto was so fond of seemed to have disappeared completely; it was almost as if he'd spent the last eighteen months of their time together putting on some sort of act for him. Or, then again, maybe he hadn't been doing that at all. Maybe it was just a case of Joe rubbing off on him in more ways than one.
Watching Jack as he leaned down to retrieve his jacket, Jason propped himself up on his arms again. "Are you really sure you don't want to make a regular thing of this? Joe reckons you sing like an angel and fuck like the devil. I certainly wouldn't mind finding out if it's true or not."
Not tearing his eyes away for a second, Jack stared hard at the door as he reached out for the handle. "Trust me, this will never be happening again. Understand? Now just stay away … like we agreed."
As he pulled the door inward and took one final look back over his shoulder to see the blond grinning gloatingly up at him, his heart ached on behalf of the Welshman. "Ianto would be so disappointed in you right now."
He accepted the appalled look of comprehension on Jason's face as a small victory then shook his head slowly at him before leaving the room.
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Tongue poking out through is lips in concentration, Ianto dotted his 'i's, crossed his 't's and then added the last full stop before sitting back with a grin. All done. There, that was another one to reminisce over.
As the kettle boiled he closed the diary and picked up his mug before making his way over to refill it.
This was a new day, a new start; a new Ianto.
No more feeling sorry for himself, no more daydreaming about things he couldn't have; this was it, his chance to move on and do something different with his life.
He could find a new hobby (not that he really had one to start with … other than the obvious.), he could make some new friends to go with the ones that he already had, he could change his job, even.
A whole new start.
Back in his chair he sipped at his coffee (black with no sugar. His conscience was telling him that he needed to make something of an effort to compensate for all of those calories he'd consumed as part of his alcohol intake in the club the previous night.) and opened up the log again.
Re-reading the tributes on the cubicle walls again last night he'd been drawn back time and time again to those intriguing messages from Alex. One had said he'd been missing him; aaaah, bless the bugger. But there was no number with it, which was annoying.
He was hoping that maybe he'd written one down for him alongside one of their 'escapades'.
He'd actually deliberated long and hard over how to describe their little rendezvous' and 'escapades' had been the only word that ever seemed appropriate.
He'd already decided that he should really give him a call to see how he was doing. 'After all, Jones, you did nearly kill the poor bastard!'
He began to flick through the pages and a wry smile gradually began to creep into place. Every so often, in the margin, the same two letters would boldly appear. The E.V.'s were actually there to remind him that Ellie was present during those particular events.
Of course, her surname was Taylor, but he hadn't fancied writing E. T. as the reference for her. Agreed, she was on the small side and fairly unusual looking but the initials would still have reflected unkindly on her appearance and besides, he wasn't overly keen on the idea of any possible future readers of his deepest and darkest secrets initially thinking that he had a fetish for small wrinkly aliens. So he'd opted for E.V., with the V standing for voyeur.
He finally found the entry he was looking for and started to chuckle. That had been sooooo bad.
He schooled his features and sipped at his coffee; 'No, Jones, don't laugh, it could have been very serious'.
Two lines on his coffee spilled as he burst out laughing; 'Oh, fuck, don't laugh! Jesus, I am going straight to hell with a conscience like this'.
Alex had wandered in to the club on several occasions and each time they'd paired up for some rather memorable nights of extreme deviancy, with maybe some of them being just a little too extreme for some folks.
On this particular occasion Alex had requested that he both hold him underwater at that very crucial point and at the same time apply the finishing lip service required to the periscope that was breaking the surface further down.
And, of course, being up for most things he'd obliged the older man by doing just that.
On reflection maybe he should have guessed that things had gone slightly awry when Alex had completely stopped moving. But as the level of water had been only just deep enough to cover his body he'd assumed that, if necessary, his 'sub' would simply 'sit up' and call a halt to the proceedings. Besides, he'd been far too busy with another part of the man's anatomy to notice anything untoward that might have been going on and in all honesty he'd been getting quite turned on himself by pleasuring him whilst pretending to drown him in the process. He just hadn't expected the fucker to actually pass out, open his mouth and swallow half of the bath water!
Skipping down a couple more lines he chuckled out loud at his resuscitation techniques … 'God, I shouldn't be laughing like this; I could've been up on a fucking manslaughter charge'.
Alex hadn't died, of course, in fact he hadn't actually taken in more than a mouthful of the water before choking back into consciousness and after some exaggerated mouth to mouth they'd laughed hysterically and conceded that maybe next time they should just stick to appeasing the older man's fetishes with the bag, tie or belt option.
He smiled to himself as he read the added note in the margin. 'Where the hell is Evie when you need her? At least she would have been watching!'
Hoping it was an up to date one, he jotted down the number next to the entry but decided that he'd put off calling him for now. He'd keep it for a time when he fancied something a little more different and, er, daring …. but nothing that involved baths.
Closing the book again he wondered if the travelling salesman was still going from town to town with a suitcase stuffed out with dildos instead of kitchen cleaning products. Definitely one to keep in mind, that Alex, he decided. He was fun as well as being a decent fuck.
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He'd decided to leave going to the gym until a bit later today.
Unless he did something stupid, like really pushing himself hard, the burn, thankfully, was easing with each visit and today he figured he might just as well leave it until late enough to warrant coming straight back home to get cleaned up, then he could tart himself up properly and just go straight back out again.
His stomach growled, but that was nothing unusual these days. He knew he had to eat something substantial soon; he was just going to fade away to nothing if he carried on as he was.
As his guts grumbled noisily again he stepped over to the fridge and pulled the door open.
Well, there was salad for a change. Lovely, that would be nice.
Deciding that he really needed to go shopping for something with just a little more flavour he opened the freezer instead, if he was lucky there might be a low calorie ding-ding in there somewhere.
He crouched down, deliberately avoiding the bottom shelf, and fished around until he came back with a plastic tub filled with left-over chilli.
Hmmm. He didn't want to go too mad before training, did he … If he just reheated this without any rice it should be okay.
His brows creased above his eyes as a familiar tapping sounded on the front door. They hadn't spoken properly since he'd been curt with her on Tuesday night and he knew she'd be looking for an apology followed by an explanation for why he'd been so unpredictable with her lately.
"Hi …." He opened the door and let her in. She gave him her timid, you know I'll always forgive you, smile and reached up for a hug.
"I'm just heating up some chilli, do you want some?" As he rocked her from side to side she nodded into the crook of his neck.
"Or … there's some lovely salad in the fridge that needs eating, if you like." He was hopeful, but he knew she hated the stuff almost as much as he did.
Lowering her to the floor he smiled at the look of disgust on her face and compromised. "Okay, we can have a little of both. Pain and pleasure." He added with a wink. "I know you like a bit of that."
As she dived into the bathroom for a pee he quickly hid his journal from sight and set the timer on the microwave.
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"I'm glad you got things sorted out with Stef, though."
They were stretched out at opposite ends of the couch, washing their lunch down with a coffee.
"Mmmm." Ianto nodded and swallowed, wincing as the drink scalded his throat. "But I don't suppose for one minute it'll be the last time the subject raises its ugly head."
"Why'd you say that?" She saw the pained expression on his face and reached down to set her mug on the floor and allow her own drink to cool down before chancing it. "I thought he decided it was all a big mistake?"
"Hmm." He smiled, looking thoughtful as he sipped this time. "A mistake that's been going on for far too long, I'm afraid."
"Cryptic!"
As she kicked out trying to make contact with his shins he dragged his knees up and laughed at her. He knew exactly what she was inferring by that but what he also knew was that he could drive her crazy with this; she was so much fun to wind up sometimes.
"Seventeen." He smiled just as deviously and took another sip; his eyes twinkling over the top of his mug at her.
She glared along at him and he knew he had her. "Okay, but promise me you won't say a word?"
"Why?" Sitting up straight, her eyes widened with intrigue.
Ianto sank further into the couch and pursed his lips down at the mug nestled in his lap before drawing in a deep breath to spill the beans. "It was when we were at college."
"College? Oh, my God, what happened?" Her mouth stayed open in anticipation as she leaned a little further forward.
"As you may have already guessed, it was when we were seventeen. I needed a piss and went to the bogs. Stef was in there, on his own, and he was practising how to tell me how he felt in the mirror."
His face fell as he remembered the horrified manner in which he'd reacted, practically fleeing in terror, and then how guilty he'd felt because he'd known that he could never feel the same way about him. "To this day he doesn't know that I saw him in there. And until the other weekend he'd never actually managed to say anything at all."
"But you've always known …" She could see the pain etched on his face and knew that this wasn't just something he'd just flippantly dismissed from day one. She would always maintain that she knew him better than anyone else and was convinced that this would have been tearing him up, knowing that his best friend was in love with him but not being able to love him back.
Her eyes began to fill and as Ianto gazed up at her she whispered. "And you've known since you were seventeen….." As he nodded silently at her, her face began to crumple. "That is so sad."
"Hey, hey…" He set his mug down and scooted up to the other end to hold her. "Come on, it's not that bad. At least we can say with honesty that we're still friends and at least we still get to see each other when we want. Something like this would have been enough to finish off a lot of friendships."
As he idly smoothed his finger- tips through her hair his mobile shrieked loudly, scaring the life out of the both of them.
Far too late for him to be able to do anything evasive about it, it rang out with the message alert and consequently reminded him of what time of day it was.
He cursed inwardly as he realised he hadn't thought to put the bloody thing on silent and was now going to have to act as normal as possible just so that she didn't become curious.
Leaving her, then a second later falling down casually with his phone in his hand, he tried to remain composed.
"Who is it?"
Of course she'd ask, Ellie couldn't do discreet if she tried.
"Oh, just a mate from work." He lied.
Yet another bad move, she knew him far too well.
"You don't have any mates in work! Oh, Ianto, don't tell me it's some bloke you've met." She sighed very deliberately. "It's only been a week; please don't tell me you've forgotten about him already."
"It's no one special." He shrugged.
She hurled herself at him, grabbing the phone from his hand before he could get the chance to react and fled to the other side of the room.
"Oi!" He was straight after her, panic rising just ever so slightly.
As he crowded her from behind, his arms snaking around trying to retrieve his mobile, she peered down at the screen to see 'xxJxx' .
He froze on the spot, just waiting for the outburst.
It never came. Instead she asked quietly. "Is this who I think it is?"
His whole body sagged and he slouched his way back over to the couch to fall heavily onto it with a loud sigh of. "Yep."
She walked over and handed him his phone. "Sorry, I thought you were seeing somebody else already." She sank down next to him and glanced sideways. "So, you have been in contact then?"
He shook his head. "He has, not me."
"What do you mean? Have you been texting each other, or not?"
"He's been texting me, I just haven't replied, that's all." He looked down at the phone and without really thinking about what he was doing he automatically sent the message to memory.
"What, with that kiss kiss jay kiss kiss thing?"
He sucked in his bottom lip before looking back up to her with a guilty look on his face and nodding
"What, always the same message?" Jack hadn't said anything to her about this. What was going on between these two?
He nodded again, slowly.
"How many times?" She had a really bad feeling that she wasn't going to like this answer.
"Every day." He shrugged at her as if to say 'what do you make of that, then?' .
"Yan, please tell me you're kidding." As predicted, she wasn't feeling altogether joyous.
"Same time, every day." He confirmed; there was no point in lying to her now.
Her eyes closed in despair and when she opened them again they were filled with a teary frustration. "You fucking idiot!"
"What? What the fuck have I done now?" Nothing, as far as he could see. So what was her problem?
"Ianto, he's a man!"
"The fact hadn't escaped my attention." He gave a chuckle but stopped as soon as she hit him.
"He's a man that's been sending you the same message every day!"
"So?" Where the hell was she going with this? "He's persistent in many ways."
Her eyes rolled as she thumped him again. "Ianto, men don't do things like that!"
"He does … apparently." He rubbed his arm as he waited for the next inevitable assault.
"Exactly. He's made the effort not just to text you, but he's done it at the same time every day. What does that tell you?"
"That he needs to get a life?"
"No! You wanker! It means he's trying to let you know that he's serious. He's bothering to stop whatever he's doing at the same time every day just to text 'you' ! And you haven't bothered replying to even one of them?"
He was suddenly filled with remorse and looked as such as he shook his head at her.
"I don't get it." Actually, she did get it, but she'd be damned if he was going to get away without her having another rant at him. "How can you decide to just forget him like this? What's going on in that stupid brain of yours? You pretending the whole week never happened or something?"
As he frowned but said nothing she reached over to smooth down an already very smooth collar for him before revealing. "He's still interested, you know. I know he still likes you."
His guard slipped as his face filled with hope. "Have you seen him?"
Realising that he'd maybe seemed just a little too excited at the thought he dropped his head quickly and grunted. "Hnnn! Not that I'm really interested, of course."
"No, I haven't seen him." She admitted tapping his leg by way of commiseration as they both silently acknowledged the recent collapse of his first line of defence. "But I did speak to him on the phone the other day."
"Why?" Hoping to regain just a little self-dignity he pretended to be irritated. "Why the hell did you have to contact him? Why can't you just leave things alone?"
"I didn't, it was him that called me a couple of days ago." She kept calm knowing that she mustn't bite or she'd lose the advantage.
"And what did he have to say for himself?" Oh, great, now he was starting to sound interested again.
He tried to back-track by getting snarky instead. "He obviously didn't mention the fact that he's been making a complete twat of himself by sending those stupid messages every day."
She tapped his thigh gently and stood to leave. "If that's what you really think of him, then you're not the man I thought you were."
Concealing her game-plan she looked back sadly from the doorway. "Give me a call when you've come to your senses, Yan. Until then, don't bother calling me at all."
As she closed the front door after herself he laughed dejectedly down at his knotted fingers. That had definitely been one of those Ellie Taylor 'ouch' specials and he realised right then that all the time she was around, he was never going to be allowed to forget Jack …. so that meant he could look forward to a whole lifetime of being constantly reminded of just how wonderful that American guy was that he stupidly let slip through his fingers.
Still, on a brighter note, thank God he'd forgotten to mention the pizza; she'd have had a field day with that little piece of information.
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"Jack! … Jack!"
The tired framework of the overused bed rocked as Ianto sat bolt upright to stare down in confusion at the duvet.
Sniffing in long, deep breaths, his palms felt sweaty as he splayed his fingers to push them back through his hair.
He'd been drowning, fucking drowning. And Jack couldn't save him. Over and over he'd swum to him as he'd called out desperately from the beach to him. But on each occasion their fingers tips had barely touched before another wave had taken him what seemed like miles back out to sea.
This had happened time and time again until finally he'd just let the water take him and it had been the sensation of slipping under for the third time that had prompted him to return to the land of the living.
He screwed his eyes tight and rubbed his hands furiously over his face before checking the alarm clock. Five thirty seven. What day was it? Ugh, yeah, Monday; he had to get up for work soon. This had been the third night in a row that he'd woken up with a start after dreaming about Jack, only this time it had been a nightmare.
What the fuck was going on with him? When did he start becoming so obsessive about people like this? Okay, fantasising about a former fuck at the pivotal moment he could understand, but to have the same person constantly on his mind day in and day out, to the point where he couldn't even go to sleep without seeing them in his dreams? This just wasn't him.
As he struggled to get back off to sleep he realised that he couldn't let things continue as they were. One way or another he wanted his life back. He either had to contact Jack and tell him in no uncertain terms to just leave him the fuck alone, or he simply had to admit to everything he was feeling for the man, and not just sexually, and just give himself up to him.
But the most important thing was that one way or another he needed to make a decision before the next text came at two pm.
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The small office felt more and more claustrophobic every time he sat down in it.
A former fitting area no larger than a small bedroom, he'd converted it himself; telling the powers that be that if they were going to insist on him taking over from his predecessor then he just had to have his own personal space.
After all, if he was going to be required to give an employee a dressing down at some stage, in his eyes, the least he could do was afford that member of staff the courtesy of it being done in private.
Of course, he didn't go into any great detail about how his own and the directors' definitions of the term 'dressing down' might differ slightly, but, as he saw it, what they didn't know would never hurt them or the company.
With a sigh he settled back to re-read the message that had been sitting there ready to go for the last two minutes.
'Jack.' He'd thought it best to keep it blunt and to the point.
'Jack, the gestures that you have been making have been very flattering but could you please stop them now. I want no further contact with you and hope that you can respect my wishes. Regards. I. J.'
'Note the lack of kisses.' He felt tempted to add. The man was obsessed with sending him these sodding kisses. What was that all about?"
He read it through once more then held his thumb over the send button.
Fifteen minutes later he was still slouched with total disrespect for everything that his ergonomically designed chair represented and 'still' with his thumb hovering expectantly over the button.
Without being able to pin-point exactly when it had started, he'd been daydreaming of recent events, and had consequently just re-lived all of the positive moments that he'd spent with Jack.
When he'd eventually cottoned on to what he was doing he'd let his head drop to his chest in despair. He'd had no intentions of thinking about him, it had just happened without him even realising it.
"Ohhhhhhh …. fuck it!"
His face pinched tightly with frustration then in the blink of an eye his thumb twitched and a button went down.
He stared at the screen, defeated ….. 'message cancelled do you wish to save it to drafts?'. He went for the 'no' option then slid even further down into his seat with a sigh.
How the hell was he ever supposed to get past this? There had to be something he could do? There must be someone else out there; somebody that could help him forget all about this unforgettable man.
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"Will you be needing me tomorrow at all? I think I've got most of the routines now, it's just a case of fine tuning them when everybody else is on board."
As Jack spoke to Tom he was unaware of how distracted he seemed. This whole waiting in vain for even the briefest of responses was promising to dominate the total twenty four hours of each and every day.
"Oh, for pity's sake!" The choreographer snatched the phone away from him and launched it across the studio. It clattered against the ballet barre on the far wall before falling unhealthily onto the polished boards below.
"Fuck!" Jack walked quickly over to retrieve it. "What the fuck did you do that for, you asshole?"
Eyebrows twitching as they knotted tightly in the centre, Tom tried to keep his composure. "Lose the attitude, Jack! I don't know what the fuck's got into you lately but I'm warning you, if you really want this, you need to start taking things far more seriously."
One hand went to his hips and he watched Jack as he walked slowly back toward him with a frown, attempting to re-attach the back of his mobile. "You know what, Jack? You've been a pain in the fucking arse since Saturday morning."
His arm snapped out to knock the mobile from Jack's grasp again. "And for fuck's sake will you leave that pissing phone alone!"
Glaring up at him, Jack bent down quietly to retrieve it for a second time then dusted it off as he made sure that he still had a signal.
"Jack, he's not worth it, you know." Sighing as he let himself fall against the mirror next to him, Tom folded his arms and shook his head over at his aspiring new star. "Look, I know you like him, but to be honest, the guy is an absolute wanker. All he's gonna do is drag you down, can't you see that?"
Not trusting himself to be able to give an answer without jeopardising his career, Jack simply turned and left the room. This guy was really starting to piss him off.
When things had first started to go down-hill he'd let the dancer's change in attitude and snide remarks pass without comment. But now a day couldn't go by without him making at least one insulting comment about Ianto, and he was getting dangerously close to reacting with his fists.
As he heard Tom call out from behind he blanked him and kept on walking until he was completely out of the building and therefore, thankfully, out of earshot.
Just because there might occasionally be an element of truth to some of the things that Tom was saying it still didn't give him the right to continually criticize his choice of friends … and especially not Ianto.
He slammed the door of the taxi hard and slid along the back seat. Who the hell did that arrogant jerk think he was, anyway? He didn't need a prick like him to tell him what he already damn well knew.
Tom seemed to have formed this opinion of him ….. that he was some sort of soft touch, but the guy hardly knew him. Okay, yeah, maybe he wasn't as confident as he sometimes let people believe but that didn't mean he was completely stupid and unable to form opinions of his own.
He'd known the very first moment that he'd met the Welshman that he was going to be dangerous, that he was a maverick who was bound to create problems and make his life complicated.
He also knew that there was always going to be at least one person in his life who thought that Ianto was completely and utterly wrong for him. But perhaps that was all part of the appeal. Perhaps that was what he really found so exciting about him.
He couldn't deny that the Welshman was unpredictable, stubborn and volatile …. and a born chancer when it came to anything remotely attractive with a dick between its legs.
And on top of all that he knew that he was also probably the most frustrating man that he'd ever met in his entire life. But despite all of these traits, and everybody else's claims to the contrary, as far as he was concerned, Ianto was the most sincere and most genuine person that he'd ever met. And in his eyes, they were perfectly matched …. totally compatible in fact ….. which, thinking about it, was just as well ….. 'cause he was hooked …. big time.
As the car pulled away with him safely inside it he watched as Tom stepped out of the building looking desperately around for him.
He decided he couldn't face another discussion with him just yet so he sent him a text instead. 'I apologise and yes of course i am serious about the show will catch up with you tomorrow J'
On reflection he had to admit; he really was his own worst enemy. And as Tom had pointed out, since Saturday he really had managed to piss almost everybody off by being the proverbial bear.
But only he and Jason could ever know why.
He was actually living in a constant state of panic. It was so bad that he'd had to fight back the nausea on several occasions. He couldn't believe just how stupid he'd been. Why couldn't he just have said 'forget it' to Jason's terms?
So now, because of his weakness, his situation was even worse. And although neither of the couple themselves realised it yet, both Joe and Jason were now pulling his strings.
Admittedly, Jason might prove to be just a little easier to deal with because he was also living in fear of somebody else finding out. But all it would take would be one drunken outburst and these dreams of his, of having a relationship with Ianto, would be over completely.
He'd known the very moment he'd set foot in that motel room that he'd practically signed his own death warrant. The fact that he'd played no pro-active part in the proceedings was irrelevant. 'Everything will out' ….. and one day Ianto was indeed bound to find out about this. And if, by some miracle, he himself was still a part of the Welshman's life, the man would most surely follow the orders on that warrant … and carry out the execution with his bare hands, no doubt.
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Never, decided Ianto as he leaned back onto his front door to close it, in the history of there being fifty two of the bastards in one year, had a week dragged by so slowly. And to top it all he was expected to be in work tomorrow as well. On a Saturday! Where was the justice in that, eh? Hadn't the angel responsible for his welfare on Earth been paying attention for the last three weeks? He was traumatised, for fucks sake; he was beyond all hope.
A quiet Friday night down the club was out of the question as well. He couldn't take a chance on meeting up with anybody when he had to get up for work the next morning. So, a leisurely jog down to the gym it was gonna be, then. Followed by maybe a quick snack when he got back. And then bed.
God, he hoped he didn't die from the excitement of it all.
He'd actually been Billy no mates all week, which, of course, had made things seem so much worse. Ellie was still sulking and he never really got to see the rest of the guys unless it was the weekend, anyway.
Also, in making no contact with him whatsoever, the one and only Mr Jason Cooper seemed to have disappeared off the face of the Earth completely. And he wasn't quite sure how to feel about that.
Ironically, the only soul who had bothered to make any contact with him on any level was the one person that was supposed to be making himself scarce.
Still, at least he had tomorrow night to look forward to. With the whole gang assembling down at the pub before heading off to the club they should all be rat-arsed in no time and bound to have a laugh one way or another.
But, for now, it was time for running shoes and sweatpants. Oh, joy.
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The double doors swung open and as the booming bass beat sounded out from deep within the bowels of the club a young guy clad in leather cap, chaps and biker boots, but not much more, stumbled out dragging a grinning Welshman behind him.
Once outside, he pushed his catch up against the wall of the building and began to kiss him in a slow and almost affectionate manner.
Ianto's loud groan of appreciation could be heard across the street and in the shadows, unimpressed, Jack's stance stiffened.
This was a new one on him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt a true gut wrenching jealousy like this.
He'd have felt a whole lot better if they'd just simply dropped to the ground and started to fuck right there in front of him.
This? This was just a little too intimate for his liking.
After looking along to a car parked further down the street he hung his head, averting his eyes, as he saw Ianto slip his arms about the other guy's waist then lower his hands to grip his naked arse before pulling him in closer.
When Jack looked up again they were still in the same position, kissing deeply, breaking momentarily to administer small pecks before letting their mouths come together softly again.
As the other guy decided to feed his fingers lovingly through Ianto's hair Jack was beginning to wish that he'd never had this stupid idea. He wasn't sure what he'd been hoping to find, or even what he might have been able to achieve by just hiding here like this. All he had known was that he needed to see him again ….but not like this, this had been a mistake.
As the two men across the road began to talk in hushed tones he strained to hear what they were saying then watched on helplessly as Ianto hooked his arm tightly around the other guy's waist before leading him away.
Stepping out from the doorway Jack lifted his head higher to watch for as long as possible as they disappeared behind a line of parked cars.
Looking along to the battered old Ford with a shrug his attention was diverted long enough for him not to realise that the doors had swung open once more and this time a petite red-head had tripped out onto the pavement with a stiletto clutched in each hand.
Sensing movement he turned back and as they stood there, frozen to the spot, staring hard at each other, it was difficult to tell who was in a deeper state of shock.
Her head snapped away from Jack for a second as she peered along at her best friend as he disappeared into the distance with his latest leather-clad conquest.
Eyes growing wider, she then looked alternately between the vanishing couple and Jack before pointing along the road and shouting. "Go after him, you idiot!"
Jack shook his head then quickly looked down, ashamed that not only did he not have the balls to go after Ianto but, even worse, that he'd been caught him in the act of spying on him.
"Jack …." She slipped a shoe on either foot and tottered over to him. "What is wrong with you? Just go after him and stop him."
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come here." He told her as she stepped up onto his side of the street and turned to walk away from her.
Managing to stay upright in her heels she clipped her way across the flag-stones and managing to dive around him stood in front of him, preventing any further escape by pressing both of her palms hard into his chest.
As she scowled up at him, he begged. "Els, please don't tell him I came here…." He took her hands from his chest and held them in his own. "He doesn't need to know about this, right?"
She gave a loud sigh as she shook her head up at him "When are you two gonna stop playing this stupid bloody game?"
She gripped his hands harder and shook them. "Oooh, you two are soooooo frustrating."
He laughed softly down at the exasperated expression on her face. She did have a point. "How is he?" He chanced, not really sure if he wanted to know.
She lifted both brows as high as they would go to imply 'how do you think he bloody is?' before telling him. "Miserable as fuck and getting on everyone's tits. How are you?"
He gave her a grin. "Oh, you know; miserable as fuck and getting on everyone's tits."
She growled loudly and nudged their joined hands into his body. "Well go catch up with him, you idiot! I know it's what he wants."
"Hmmm…" He didn't look so convinced. "Maybe this time last week I might have agreed with you and to be honest I've kinda been hoping that it was just gonna be a case of giving him enough time to get his head around the idea of being with me. But after tonight? I don't know, Els. It looks to me like he's moved on."
"Let me prove you wrong." She swung their arms out to the side and back in again, causing their hands to come together with a smack in the centre. "We're dragging him down the Heath tomorrow for a picnic …"
"And he's okay with that?" He cut in, his shocked expression suggesting that he knew this man just as well as she did.
"Well, he doesn't actually know about it yet." She admitted looking just a little concerned. "But anyway, come down there about one-ish, we'll be up the Kenwood House end, you could meet us there. I'll bet you he'll be pleased to see you."
He shook his head slowly as he considered it. "Oh, I don't know, I'm not sure that's such a good idea."
"Do you 'want' to see him?"
"Well, yeah ….." He tried to keep the sadness from his voice as he nodded.
"Do you miss him?"
"Yeah ….." He didn't bother hiding anything this time and, embarrassed, swallowed down the crack in his voice.
"Then it's a no brainer!" She shook her head, scolding him. "Don't leave it too late, Jack, or he will hook up with somebody else."
"Has he seen Jay, at all?" He so didn't want to hear the answer to this one.
"Hasn't even heard from him as far as I know." She told him sincerely. "And to be honest, I'm not sure that he's all that bothered. Mind you, he is good at hiding his feelings."
"Yeah, agreed, and although he won't admit it, I know he really felt a lot for him ….. so I just thought, well, you know ….." As the significance of his words sank in he started to wonder why the hell he was putting himself through all this.
She smiled up at him. "Jack, I promise; it's you he's interested in now, nobody else."
"And the cute guy in leather?" He grinned down at her, defeated.
"Oh, that's nothing to worry about." She hoped to God she was sounding reassuring. "One quick fuck and he'll have forgotten all about him."
With a matter of fact-ness she added. "So, we'll see you tomorrow, then …" She purposely refrained from phrasing it as a question. "Don't forget, Kenwood House."
"Els, I….."
"You need to get off at Gospel Oak, it's overground, though, so you'll need to get someone to go over the maps with you …"
"Els, I …"
"And you need Hampstead Lane. Ask anybody, they'll be able to point you in the right direction."
"Els, I can only just manage to find my way between Hammersmith and Covent Garden. I've got no chance of finding my way to ….. Ken….. whatever House it was. And anyway….."
"You managed to find your way here all right." She sent him her 'don't try and pull the wool over my eyes' look.
"Only because I remembered Joe pointing out where this place was on one of his guided tours and …."
"But you still managed to find your way here from Hammersmith though."
"Actually, no, I didn't." He admitted sheepishly and nodded along to the same car as earlier where a blond guy was still sitting waiting for him in the driver's seat. "Eddie volunteered his services."
"And who might this 'Eddie' be, exactly?"
"He's one of the cast." He smiled down at her, amused at how she felt the need to show jealousy on her friend's behalf.
As his co-star shook his head through the windscreen at him Jack waved a dismissive hand through the air at him and laughed. "He's sick to death of me 'mooning about' as he puts it. And apparently I …. 'don't shut up about that bleedin' Welsh bloke!' ….".
He'd said it in a Cockney accent and it made her laugh out loud.
"Okay, great, he can bring you here tomorrow, then, can't he …." She suddenly realised. It seemed like the ideal solution to her.
"Sorry, no can do." Jack told her with a small shrug. "He's already ruffled Jerry's feathers by crying off of tonight's performance. He daren't miss tomorrow's matinee as well. But he'll be free all day Monday, though." He added helpfully.
"Oh, okay, yeah, that's sorted then. I'll just tell all the lads they've got to take a day off of work so that you can join us and they'll all be over the moon. I can already see them jumping for joy at the idea."
As Jack screwed his face up in acknowledgement of what a really stupid suggestion he'd just made she begged. "Please, for me, try and make it tomorrow?"
"Okay, we'll see." He smiled then dragged her in for a hug. "You're a good friend Miss Ellie…"
Pulling out of his grasp she began to make her way back over to the club before looking over her shoulder in amazement at him. "I can't believe you actually just said that."
As he laughed at her she grinned. "So, come on then, who do you want to be? Bobby? He's the best looking one isn't he?"
"Hell, no, honey!" His hands went to his hips as he twitched his head to flick his fringe. "I wanna be Pam!"
Her eyes rolled as she carried on across the street. "Now why doesn't that surprise me?"
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"Sshhh!" As the woman glared over at them for a second time, Ellie reprimanded Stef for his repeated use of expletives with a finger on her lips and a slap on his shoulder.
The blond raised his brows challengingly. "Whose idea was it to sit in a stupid spot like this anyway, hmmm? We never come here. This is a shit spot."
"We're supposed to be having a normal day out … like normal people." She told him as she hit him again.
"Oi! Bitch! I am fucking normal." Ianto flicked a cheesy puff in her direction, cowering as it sailed straight past her to land just short of the family next to them before mouthing a silent 'sorry' in their direction.
Grinning, Larry took a bite of his drumstick, then punctuating his speech by tapping at the air with it he admitted. "You know, I'd like to be able to say …." He chomped on his mouthful of chicken a couple of times. "That I'm really enjoying myself …." He chewed again then swallowed. "But I fuckin' 'ate picnics!"
"Ssshhhhhh!"
As every single one of the others scolded him he chuckled with success.
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Jack looked up from pretending to read his book and laughed to himself as he watched Ianto apologise guiltily to the family sitting primly on the next blanket.
As it happened, he was feeling a little jealous again; it looked like they were all having fun. Ianto was laughing and joking with the rest of them and he had such a cute smile; it complimented perfectly how handsome he looked when he was serious.
Pressing back onto the tree, Jack drew his knees up and balanced his book on his thighs with one hand while he fished around in his pocket for his phone with the other. He was tempted to give the Welshman a call and ask if it would be okay if he just walked right on over to join them.
But that wasn't what he was here for today. This was crunch time. The reaction that his message received today would determine whether he took things any further with this pursuit of his.
He lifted his sunglasses slightly to peek at the time on his phone and realising he still had five minutes to go he leaned back on to the tree again and smiled as he watched them all continue to tease each other.
He had to admit, he did feel sorry for Els. She was constantly looking around her pretending to watch the passers' by, but he knew who she was really hoping to see.
At two minutes to two he retrieved the message from 'drafts' and pressed send. He was so nervous he was feeling like he wanted to throw up again.
From a distance he watched on as Ianto left the conversation briefly to reach down for his phone lying on the blanket next to him.
He held his breath; he was almost too scared to look.
He saw Ellie momentarily divert her attention away from the others to look at Ianto, it seemed that she was just as interested as he was.
With his knees jittering nervously he waited to gauge Ianto's reaction. He'd actually had this niggling fear from day one that in constantly bugging him with these messages he might only have been making the situation a whole lot worse. But, now was the moment of truth and he was going to get his answer one way or another.
He swallowed noisily as Ianto paused before opening the message, then a second later the coyest, the most beautiful smile he knew he'd ever get to see, spread from ear to ear.
He gasped as his stomach did a summersault and laughed with relief as the man of his dreams continued to smile as he nodded over to Ellie as some sort of confirmation.
So, Ianto had told her about the messages after all; that was a promising sign in itself.
Right, he decided, that settled it. No more pussy footing around him. No more putting up with his nonsense. Ianto was his, no argument. Exactly how he was supposed to make this fact a reality would remain a mystery for now, but one way or another; he was definitely going to get him back.
He gathered up his things then pulled his cap a little further down over his face before pushing himself up from the ground.
As Ianto picked up an apple then threw it playfully at Gaz Jack drank in the sight of him for one final time then turned to leave them all to it.
As he walked off he pulled out his phone again to make a call. Hopefully, if he could find the right exit, Maria's brother would still be waiting somewhere close by to give him a ride back.
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Ellie laughed at all of 'her' lads as they gave up on behaving themselves and waged an all-out war with food.
Ianto grinned, roaring triumphantly as the Golden Delicious hit Gaz square in the chest, then smiling to himself, but saying nothing, he let his eyes slowly drift from left to right and watched Jack as he walked off in the direction of Hampstead Lane.
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Well, here we go again, another start to the working week over and done with, Ianto thought to himself as he finally made it to the shop. He hated Mondays. He hated Tuesdays as well, for that matter and he wasn't all that keen on Wednesdays anymore, either, because from now on, on Wednesdays he was going to have to find something else to do with his time. He wouldn't be meeting Jay for lunch anymore; that was for certain.
"Hmmm, let's see how long it stays like this." He cast an eye over the newly painted white brickwork. He'd lost count of the number of times Mr Khan had gone down this route.
As he pushed open the door to the shop the smartly dressed owner turned back from arranging the packs of Benson and Hedges Gold to get a glimpse of who had just entered.
"Ah, Mr Jones." He dropped the remaining packs on to the narrow shelf beneath the racking and turned completely to face his favourite customer.
As he fished around beneath the cash register he looked up to smile. "I've been waiting for you to come back in."
"You have?" Ianto looked up from the headlines of the local paper and frowned curiously. "Why?"
"You dropped something last time you were here." He told him trying to slide something out from underneath the till.
Ianto frowned harder. He'd dropped something in here? Well, he knew one thing for sure; it wouldn't have been a fifty pound note. And the way his digestive system had been behaving lately Mr Khan was bloody lucky it hadn't been his guts he dropped.
"Here we go."
Ianto stepped forward as the shop owner held out a small strip of paper to him.
Still frowning, he took it from him and as he realised what it was he could only imagine how both surprised and pleased he must look.
The shopkeeper realised straight away that he'd made the right decision in holding on to them. "As you know, I don't condone this sort of, er, thing, but, well, you know; kind repaid in kind, one good turn gets one in return, or whatever it is you say. You have been so kind to me lately, Mr Jones, that keeping these for you was the very least I could do."
He paused as he waited for Ianto to look up at him before adding. "And you look so happy in them I thought that they were probably very special to you."
Ianto looked back down at the two photos of himself and Jack and tried to ignore the lump that was forming in his throat.
"Yes, they are." He finally told him after clearing it. "Thank you."
He'd forgotten they even existed, but it was obvious that somebody else hadn't. And there were no prizes for guessing how they'd managed to be in his possession for him to lose in the first place.
Mr Khan was right, he did look very happy, but with an irony, that simple fact was now making him feel very very sad.
"What else can I do for you today?"
As the shopkeeper waited patiently, ever at his service, Ianto realised that suddenly he didn't have the faintest why he'd walked in to the shop only minutes earlier.
"I'll just have a quick look 'round." He told him trying to save face and as the man went back to his shelf stacking he made his way over to the next aisle.
Once out of sight he looked down at the photos. He could never grow tired of looking at Jack's face. Better than Jay's chiselled, God-like features, and more appealing than Joe's olive tones, he was easily the most attractive man he'd ever laid eyes on.
But he knew it wasn't just that that drew him to Jack, there was something different about him, he was … special.
Under normal circumstances, with anybody even half as good looking as him, he'd have been 'in like Flynn'; throwing caution to the wind and savouring every brief moment.
But brief would never be enough with Jack. It would have to be all or nothing with him. And deep down, and despite what he really wanted, he knew that having the 'nothing' would be infinitely less painful than one day having to lose it 'all'.
His shoulders fell and he gave a mournful sigh down at the images as he finally had to admit that he was weakening. That stubborn resolve of his was leaving him and threatening to let him down big time. And for all of his determined vows to forget about the man, he knew damn well that it would only be a matter of time before he surrendered himself up to the inevitable …. especially after yesterday.
Essentially, he was a lost cause and he knew that if Jack were to walk in through that door right now, he'd be in his arms in an instant; holding him as tightly as possible and relishing that closeness that he'd never experienced with anybody ever before.
Dragging his eyes away from the smiling image the first thing he focussed on was a tin of Heinz chicken and mushroom soup.
Duh! Soup! That was what he'd come in for. Hmmm, how spooky was that?
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He mused as he crunched into yet another piece of lettuce. This most current dilemma of his had been bothering him deeply since two pm the previous day.
What he wanted to know, was why, when he'd known that Jack was sitting there just waiting to see his reaction, had he chosen to look so delighted at receiving his message? Surely right then would have been the ideal time to get his own message across, that being, that he wasn't interested. So why had he chosen to go down the route of grinning from ear to ear?
As the others had set up the picnic he hadn't initially realised that the fit guy he was ogling from afar was Jack. There'd been nothing familiar about his clothing, even his baseball cap was a different one to usual and sitting just far enough away, his face shadowed by the peak of the cap was also unidentifiable.
How the man was actually managing to read a word through those dark shades was anybody's guess and that fact alone should have instantly been a big giveaway, but Ianto hadn't felt the need to put two and two together at that stage.
In the end it had been Jack's momentary lapse in concentration that had let him down. True to form he'd not been able to resist smiling up at a couple of guys as they'd walked past and that was when he'd had him. He'd have known that smile anywhere.
The real confirmation had been when he'd produced his mobile just before two, then almost on the hour he'd pressed a couple of buttons and sat there pretending that he wasn't looking over at him even though he most obviously was.
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Ianto swallowed the piece of lettuce and smiled as he remembered how blown away he'd felt by the whole affair. The texts, the pizza and now there Jack was ….. following him around like some lovesick puppy. The man was unbelievable.
As he'd sat there after receiving the message, acknowledging it with that big stupid smile on his face, he'd felt all warm inside and … he'd felt wanted; suddenly he'd realised for the first time that Jack really wanted him.
He scooped up a forkful of tuna and drew his lips firmly back across the tines before chewing thoughtfully. Could he, he wondered still pondering, have reacted how he did because he'd felt he owed Jack something? Was that it? Had he felt that he'd owed him just that one little positive sign in repayment for making such an effort in trying to win him 'round. Yeah, that must have been what it was.
Ah, or then again, maybe it had just been a case of him actually wanting Jack to know that he really and truly had been just more than a little pleased that he'd been sending him these messages day in, day out. Subconsciously he'd actually wanted him to know that he was okay with it.
He gazed distractedly at the pronged cherry tomato waiting patiently to be devoured. So, was that really it? Yeah, maybe it was.
He'd actually wanted him to know.
Wasn't exactly putting up much of a fight now, was he…..
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"Anyway, as I said, Jones, this is just an informal chat for now ….." The elderly gentleman pulled at the tight knot in his tie, loosening it accordingly to feel more in-keeping with the surroundings he currently found himself in. "And I'll set up a more formal meeting with the other directors for next week sometime. But we really do need to sort out this issue of you taking on more responsibility within the company."
He clasped his hands behind his back and pitched down a little. "Mr Jones, if you could pay a little more attention for just a second it would be very helpful."
Staring down at the young man swinging lightly from side to side in his chair he finally lost patience. "MR JONES!"
"Wha..? Yes, er no, um…." As his body jolted with surprise Ianto snapped his head up to peer wide-eyed at the man.
"Ah, thank you for finally deciding to join me." Not even trying to hide the fact that he felt he was completely wasting his time he shook his head down at Ianto. "I was just in the process of telling you that I'm setting up a meeting for next week to discuss this on-going matter of your taking on a more responsible role with the rest of us."
Ianto huffed indignantly. "I manage this department. How is that not responsible?" He swung his chair back in the other direction to suggest that the topic was no longer up for debate.
"Ianto, your father ….."
"I don't care what my father did, Henry. I am not him and I am quite happy just doing what I'm doing here, thank you."
Without allowing the older man the courtesy of turning back to face him before he spoke, Ianto checked his watch. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm expecting an important call."
Henry smiled softly and shook his head to suggest that he hadn't expected anything less from the young manager. "Ianto, please bear in mind that I'm not getting any younger ….. none of us are … and we don't want outsiders taking an interest. You do know what I mean, don't you…."
Ianto sighed down at his thighs. "Okay, okay, I'll think about it. But don't you dare go setting up any bloody meetings behind my back."
"Of course not." The old man smiled and turned to leave the tiny office.
"Henry?" Ianto spun in his chair to face the doorway. As the other man shuffled around to face him again he offered reproachfully. "I'm sorry I shouted at you."
"I know, lad." Henry turned away with a smile. "Now, I'll let you get back to that important phone call of yours."
As his lids fell, Ianto silently mouthed 'fuck' at the now empty doorway. Since when did he start yelling rudely at the elderly? And especially ones that he normally treated with the utmost respect.
It was this obsession with Jack. He was letting it influence every single area of his life, to the point where he no longer had the patience to think about anything else. Everything else just seemed to get in the way.
It was time for a re-think about how he was dealing with this.
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Checking his watch again, he wandered out onto the shop floor to find out what mischief his current two members of staff were getting up to. He normally managed to find them skulking out of sight behind the three tiered shelving stacked full with cellophane wrapped shirts.
"So, this is what I'm paying you for today, is it?" He made them both jump suitably high enough as he stealthily stepped around the side of the shelving to join them.
"I've done those ties you left out, and those trousers ain't come in yet, they're late. So I have been doing something, but I've finished it and we've only just got here, ain't we?" The young lad looked to his even younger female cohort for some kind of confirmation.
As she nodded her agreement at Ianto he rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Yes, of course you have."
Dragging his jacket out of the way so that he could slip his hands into his trouser pockets he gave a firm nod as if he'd come to some sort of a decision. "Right then, from now on this is how it's gonna work. For every five minutes that you both spend chatting on the company's time, you can stay on for an extra ten at the end of your shifts to compensate. Oh, and that includes the days when Mr Cummings covers for me."
"You can't do that!" The young lad folded his arms defiantly.
"Are you quite sure about that, Mr Brown?" His hands snapped out of his pockets and went straight to his hips. "Now, find something constructive to do before I sack the bloody pair of you!"
He glared at them both in turn then spun on the balls of his feet before walking back to the main counter.
"What's his problem lately? He's no fun anymore." The young girl finally spoke. "He's been a right pain in the arse since he came back from being off sick. What d'ya reckon's wrong with him?"
"Not getting enough pain in the arse." Her friend decided.
They both giggled then went their separate ways.
Ianto held his tongue as he heard their words and stepped behind the counter with a sigh. They were right on one count, he did used to have a laugh with his staff in fact he'd done a lot more than that with a few of them in the past. Hmmm, most inappropriate he'd been, now thinking about it. But at least he hadn't behaved like the miserable old fuck that these two seemed to think he now was.
At the end of the day all they'd really been doing was exactly what he'd been doing at their age. Only, his actions had been heavily influenced by drugs and alcohol ….. and at that stage he hadn't actually managed to hold down a job for more than a month because of his excessive lateness and almost constant incoherency.
This couldn't be it already, could it? What had suddenly happened to Jones the bastard? The one that fucked about with his mates, fuelled his reputation down the club every Friday night, held wild orgies and did obscene things with as many people as he could find in one night?
Things had probably started to go down-hill when Jay had moved in, his cock hadn't been used nearly half as much since then.
God, were his wild days finally coming to an end? Was he really past it at twenty five?
The more he thought about how he'd been behaving lately the more convinced he was that, in actual fact, no, he was most definitely not past it and if those two cheeky little buggers now canoodling up together in the store cupboard had seen what he'd been up to with that guy in leather on Saturday night and more to the point, where, then they'd definitely have a different opinion of him entirely.
Nah! He decided, Ianto Jones has still got it ….. he's just having an off day, that's all.
With a grin he crouched down behind the counter to tidy the shelving stacked untidily with carrier bags and paperwork. A second later his mobile vibrated in his jacket pocket and not being arsed to stand up again he slid his fingers inside the material and dragged them over the plastic casing repeatedly until he managed to drag the phone to the edge of the opening.
With his fingers pinched in a tight grip around one side he slowly drew the mobile towards him to check for the obvious.
No sooner had he focussed on the screen that his fingers slipped and the phone flipped free, disappearing straight into the depths of a box filled with polystyrene packing chips.
"Bollocks! That'll teach me to be fucking lazy."
He continued to grumble to himself as he delved around trying to feel for his phone.
"Heh hummmm."
As a customer above him cleared their throat to get his attention, hidden beneath the counter he mouthed 'fuck off!' up to whoever it was and hoping they'd just get fed up a go away he carried on with his search.
"Heh hummmm."
He sighed quietly, rolled his eyes and tried to sound not too grudging as he told the person. "Sorry, I'll be with you in just a sec."
"Jeez, that's a relief!"
He froze as the voice sailed down to him, continuing to add brightly.
"You know, for a while there you had me thinking you were gonna go right on ignoring me forever."
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IJ JH IJ JH IJ JH IJ JH IJ JH IJ JH IJ JH IJ JH IJ JH IJ JH IJ JH IJ JH
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tbc.