Hey everyone I'm back with a whole new chappie which I hope you wholeheartedly enjoy. I got this back from my beta earlier today but decided at the last minute to change a few things which I'm doing in a hurry before my laptop battery dies so I apologise in advance for any gramatical errors you may find, they are entirely my own :)

Thanks Socalrose for betaing you did a brilliant job as always, get well soon xxoo

Sports Carnivals and Rogue Soccer Balls

The day dawned bright and sunny and quite warm despite the season. The school met for an assembly after breakfast to go over the rules and codes of expected behaviour before the students were sent out to the oval to begin the day. Ianto pushed aside the sadness he'd been feeling the previous night and focused on having a good day with his friends even when the two teams from the catholic school arrived with the asshole they'd met the previous day leading them.

Neither Tosh nor Morghan were into sports and Katie, Rhys and Angela were only participating in one event each so Ianto knew he'd have company most of the day. Their group found a spot in some shade, mindful of the fair skin shared by several of its members, and set up a day camp where those not participating could hang out and everyone else could return to after their events were finished. They lay out a big picnic rug Morghan had somehow managed to acquire and sat down together to wait for their events to start.

There was a speech by the principal along with words of encouragement and reminders of the importance of fair play and how it's the competing that counts before the students were allowed to head to the tables which had been set up to house the officials judging each event and check which events they were in and when they were occurring during the day.

Jack, Seeley, Owen, Mickey and Tom immediately headed over to the table to check for Andrew's name and which events he would be participating in before jogging back over to the group's base camp with satisfied grins on their faces.

"You look happy," Temperance noted.

"Turns out our friend is participating in several events, all of which have at least one of us participating in it also," Seeley explained his jovial mood with a satisfied smirk. "I am looking forward to seeing his face when we crush him."

"You shouldn't get overconfident," Temperance warned. "He might be very good at some of those events you never know, he could beat you instead."

Seeley's smile widened and he pulled her into his arms for a chaste kiss. "Ah yes but I have my good luck charm here with me, I can't lose," he said adoringly before pulling her into another kiss. When he pulled back the second time he moved to release her, however Temperance surprised the group by pulling the American back for a much more heated kiss.

There were cat calls and whistles from everyone around them and when Temperance pulled back it was a stunned but happy Seeley who stood before the young American girl. "I wanted to give you as much luck as I could," Temperance explained in a tone that sounded far more seductive than any of the group thought her capable of.

"Yeah, I get that," Seeley replied in a slightly stunned tone. "Thanks."

Temperance simply smiled at him before heading over to the table to check her own events. Seeley watched her go with a goofy grin on his face for several moments before turning back to smile at the rest of the group.

"Oh there is no way I'm losing now!" he exclaimed excitedly drawing cheers from the rest of the group as he turned and ran off to his first event.

Ianto watched him go with a smile. Seeley and Temperance were perfect together, he was so glad they'd realized it too.

Ianto grinned when he felt Jack's arms wrap around him from behind pulling him into the Canadian's muscular chest. He pressed a kiss to Ianto's cheek and whispered in his ear. "Perfect together aren't they? Not quite as perfect as us, but then again that's because we're us."

Ianto laughed. "So modest aren't you," he scolded playfully.

"No room for modesty when you look like we do," the Canadian replied bringing his lips to Ianto's in a thorough kiss. It took everything in Ianto not to groan as he kissed the Canadian back turning in his arms so he could return Jack's embrace. "I love you," Jack whispered as they parted.

"I love you, more," Ianto replied with a grin and Jack glared at him playfully.

"I'd argue with you but I have to go, we'll pick this up later," he promised bringing the arm Ianto's bracelet was on up to his lips and kissing first the back of his hand then the bracelet itself. His last kiss was to Ianto's lips before he ran out onto the oval leaving a smiling Ianto watching after him.

"That boy is a total fox, you are so lucky," A female voice broke through Ianto's happy moment and he turned to find a group of girls from the local public school watching him with big grins on their faces. He returned their smiles and replied.

"I know I am."

One of the girls tilted her head to the side and studied him for a moment. "Then again, perhaps he's the lucky one," she said with a thoughtful smile before bidding him good day and heading off with the rest of her group in tow.

"I think you just got hit on," Tosh said coming up to stand beside him with a suggestive grin on her face.

Ianto gave her his best stoic expression. "I don't know what you're talking about," he replied before moving to sit down on the blanket beside Morghan. A giggling Tosh soon dropped down beside him and they waited impatiently for the events to start.

XX

Most of the morning went smoothly with their school placing well in all of the events. So far they were winning which made Ianto smile particularly when the victory seemed to be bothering Mr Mason so much. Seeley hadn't been wrong when he said he wouldn't lose, he, Jack and Mickey had been victorious in all of the events they'd chosen to participate in while Tom and Owen had only missed out on victory in a couple of events themselves. The girls were also doing fabulously, particularly Ray who Ianto hadn't seen lose an event at all yet.

Jack returned to the area the group had adopted after every event for as much Ianto time as he could get before heading back out to compete some more. Ianto would be lying if he said he didn't love it. He had company pretty much all day with Morghan and Tosh not participating in events but Jack's frequent visits were better than any other company, not that he'd ever tell the girls that of course.

There was only a small window where Ianto was by himself and only because Tosh and Morghan had headed over to watch an event that Angela, Ray and Elena were competing in. They'd offered for Ianto to come with them but he'd declined wanting to stay and watch Jack and Seeley compete in the javelin. Of course that was the moment Andrew decided to pay Ianto a visit.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't one of the disgusting homos."

Ianto rolled his eyes at the pathetic opening line.

"You're all alone over here pansy, what happened? Did your friends finally see the light?" Andrew asked.

Ianto just shook his head refusing to be bated, "You do know that this is just pathetic right?" he asked the bigot. "I mean you have three schools of people here you could be talking to and instead you're over here having a conversation with me, the apparently evil pansy. Seriously, don't you think that's just a little sad? Are you sure it's not your friends' whereabouts we should be discussing?" he asked.

"So that's the game you're going to play is it? Pretend what I'm saying doesn't bother you?" Andrew asked leaning down so he was right in Ianto's face. "What if I said that your boyfriend, what's his name, Jack? Is a dirty, disgusting, filthy homo who deserves to have the shit beaten out of him before being left in a ditch to die like the animal he is. Still not bothering you?" Andrew snarled.

Anger boiled through Ianto like white hot lava. He wanted to explode, yell at the asshole and smash his head into the tree they were sitting under. But he knew that was exactly what the bastard wanted and he refused to give him the satisfaction. Instead he went with a reply he knew would piss the bigot off. "You do know that leaning down here and getting so close to me like this is probably giving people the wrong idea about you, particularly since I am a, what did you say before, filthy homo? You'd best be careful Andrew, people might start to think you're into me," he said calmly and with a smile.

Andrew's face turned the colour of a lobster and Ianto knew he was about to explode. He expected a violent reaction, he was surprised when suddenly Andrew's face took on a shocked expression and he turned around to look behind him. Ianto followed his gaze and found a young man, about the same age as himself, with short, spiky, blonde hair and brown eyes standing behind Andrew with his hands on his shoulders and his hips pressed into Andrew's backside.

"What the fuck?" Andrew snapped.

"Well I figured since your secret was out now you wouldn't mind," the blonde said with a cheerful smile. "I'm sorry was I wrong?"

Andrew leapt away from the boy, barely managing not to land on Ianto in the process. He then backed away from them both heading toward the oval. "You keep your dirty hands off me you filthy perverts," he snarled, his body shaking with rage while his face was filled with embarrassment.

"Oh no, don't go baby, we haven't even had a chance to snuggle yet," the blonde boy called out. "I can be the little spoon if you'd rather I'm a very good little spoon."

"Get the fuck away from me," Andrew screamed turning around and running away as fast as he could not looking in front of him to notice the chair that suddenly appeared in his path. He hit it and fell forward flipping the chair over as he went and ending up on his front with the chair stuck to his back.

"Oh look even the chair wants a cuddle," the blonde boy stated as the rest of the students who'd seen Andrew fall started laughing.

"I wonder if chairs have any sort of gender," a female voice asked and Ianto looked round to see Lisa standing behind him watching the events unfold with an amused glint in her eyes. "I guess I'll ask it when I go back and retrieve it shall I?" she asked grinning down at Ianto.

"You put that there?" he asked surprised.

"No, I wouldn't do something like that," she replied a look of fake innocence on her face. "Are you all right?" she asked her expression turning more serious.

"I'm fine," Ianto replied still surprised by the girl's actions.

"Good," she replied. "I'll leave you in peace then." She gave the blonde boy a long, assessing look before heading over to retrieve the chair from Andrew's back.

Ianto watched her go, for a moment completely forgetting about the young man who'd come to his aid as well as how angry he'd been at Andrew for what he said about Jack. The blonde's voice drew him back to reality very quickly however when he asked. "Is she a friend of yours?"

"No, not really; although apparently she's trying to be." He shook his head pushing thoughts of Lisa away before turning his attention to the other boy. "That's neither here nor there though. Hi, how are you? I'm Ianto Jones," he introduced himself with a friendly smile holding out his hand.

"Declan Matthews it's nice to meet you, and I'm fine how are you?" he returned the question shaking Ianto's hand and giving him a dazzling smile of his own. "I'm sorry if I was intruding but I saw that you were having issues with good old saint Mason over here and figured you might need a little saving. I was going to just say something to get his attention away from you but when you brought up people getting the wrong idea about him I just had to go with it," he finished with a gleeful smile.

"Oh no, it's fine," Ianto replied, "Believe me I didn't mind your appearance in our conversation, it kept any punches from flying and seeing the bastard humiliated was more than a little enjoyable. I take it you've had run-ins with him in the past?" Ianto asked.

"More than I'd like to remember," Declan replied. "My ex and I used to be on the receiving end of his torment quite regularly. I'm sad to say it eventually got the better of my friends who all stopped talking to me and Josh who ended things between us," Declan finished sadly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ianto said quietly, "that must have been hard for you."

Declan gave him a sad look, "Thanks, it was. Of course these things happen sometimes, obviously Josh and I just weren't meant to be," he finished and Ianto saw him shake the feeling away before giving Ianto an obviously forced smile. "Anyway, I'm sure you don't want to hear about that. I'm glad you're okay, I guess I'll leave you to it," Declan said turning to walk away.

"You can sit down and join me if you like," Ianto offered feeling sad for the other boy, "most of my friends have events they're in but they come back to say hi in between and the others will be back soon. They're nice people, you should meet them."

"Really? You don't mind?" Declan asked hopefully.

"No, of course not, you can keep me company until the others get back," Ianto replied with a smile.

Declan smiled back and moved to sit down beside him. "So which events are your friends in?" he asked.

XX

Morghan watched the scene unfold at the group's area. She'd seen Andrew approach the blanket and had been on her way back to help Ianto when the blonde boy had turned up. She'd watched him appraise the situation before jumping behind Andrew and drawing his attention away from Ianto. She'd seen Andrew backing away and watched at Lisa placed the chair right in his path before circling back around behind Ianto to watch the outcome. She watched as the pair spoke and the way the blonde went to go only to be stopped by Ianto who must have invited him to sit down since he was now perched beside the Welshman. Who was he? Morghan would have to find out.

She saw Lisa approaching her direction and as much as she wanted nothing to do with the other girl Ianto had told them all about her desire to make amends for what she'd done and be friends. She had just helped Ianto so maybe it was true and Morghan wanted to ask for herself.

She changed direction so her path would cross with Lisa's and she saw the moment the other girl noticed this and stopped; a wary look in her eyes. "I don't want to fight," the American girl said as Morghan approached.

"Nor do I," Morghan replied stopping in front of her. "I saw what you just did there and I was curious about why you did it?"

"I just…wanted to help," Lisa replied.

"Why?" Morghan asked.

"Because I like Ianto and I want to be his friend," Lisa replied and the look in her eyes told Morghan that she meant it.

"Okay," was all Morghan said on the matter and moved to walk past the other girl.

"Wait," Lisa said grabbing her arm lightly and halting her exit. Morghan gave her a warning glare and Lisa immediately let her go. "I'm sorry it's just…that boy, over there with Ianto."

"What about him?" Morghan asked.

"Something about him feels…wrong," Lisa replied.

"Wrong?" Morghan asked curiously.

"Wrong," Lisa affirmed. "I'm sorry I can't explain it any better than that he just feels…wrong. I don't know, maybe it's my imagination but…just watch out for Ianto, okay, that other boy doesn't feel right."

Lisa's eyes were so imploring Morghan couldn't help but agree. "All right," she replied and Lisa thanked her quietly before heading away. Morghan watched her go for a moment surprised by the other girl's actions. She didn't know why Lisa suddenly cared about Ianto but Morghan would definitely keep an eye on him. When people felt wrong there was usually a reason for it.

Turning her attention back to Ianto she continued on her way over to the pair watching their interaction for any sign that something might be wrong about the other boy. There was nothing on the outside, but was it Morghan's imagination or did the blonde look like he was inching closer to Ianto as he spoke?

She'd almost reached the pair when Jack's voice calling Ianto's name drew her attention to the Canadian who was jogging toward the Welsh boy with a happy smile on his face. Ianto returned his smile and stood to greet his boyfriend with a hug and a tender kiss. Jack slipped his arms around Ianto and held him close as he kissed back. Morghan was enjoying the sweet moment between the two boys until she turned her attention to Ianto's new friend and saw the glare the blonde was giving Jack. He must have noticed Morghan approaching just moments later because he schooled his expression and looked over at her with what she figured was supposed to be a friendly smile.

"Oh hi, you must be one of Ianto's friends, I'm Declan," he introduced himself standing up and holding out his hand.

Morghan just looked at him; did he honestly think she hadn't noticed? Before she could say anything in response she was jumped on and hugged from behind by Ray and Elena.

"Morghan we won, we won!" Ray announced excitedly and Morghan turned around to hug the pair back.

"That's amazing, congratulations," she replied giving them a true smile even though she wanted nothing more than to be glaring at Declan.

The rest of the group arrived at their area shortly having also finished their events and Ianto started introducing Declan to the group. He had that fake smile firmly in place through every introduction but Morghan wasn't fooled, even if she hadn't seen the glare he'd given Jack Lisa had been right; he felt wrong. Once the introductions were over the group sat down to lunch together chatting away happily to Declan and answering questions about themselves when he asked.

About halfway through her roll Morghan felt Elena slip an arm around her and whisper, "What's wrong?" She felt Ray's arm slip through hers on the other side and she looked from side to side noticing that she had her best friend's and her girlfriend's attention. "I'll tell you when lunch is over," she replied, "I don't really want to talk about it here."

The pair nodded but kept her in their hold obviously concerned about her which made Morghan smile just a little. As soon as they were finished their lunch Morghan grabbed the pair and pulled them away from the group to explain what was going on.

XX

Ianto had a lovely afternoon talking to Declan; he'd always enjoyed getting to know new people. He'd noticed a few of the girls seemed a bit uncomfortable around the blonde and Declan had mentioned that he didn't think Morghan liked him but Ianto wasn't worried, he was new to the group they probably just had to get used to him. At the moment Jack and Seeley were out on the oval playing a good natured game of soccer with several boys from the other schools as an ending to the day and something to do while the scores were being tallied. Ianto was watching Jack move around the oval and listening to Declan talk about his family at the same time.

Apparently he was the youngest of three boys and his parents lived locally, they'd sent him to the Christian school in the hopes of turning him straight- assholes-. His older brothers were both in college the eldest one already engaged to his college girlfriend which Declan thought was too young but Ianto didn't comment. If he and Jack were engaged right now it wouldn't be too early for him, not that he'd ever let that be known to other people.

Ianto felt his stomach knot as he thought about how little time they really had left.

He didn't want to spoil the day so he pushed it from his mind, smiling despite himself as he saw Jack and Seeley score a goal for their team and high five enthusiastically.

The pair parted and Ianto watched Jack run back down the other end of the oval. He was so perfect it was almost blinding especially when he looked up at Ianto and smiled that gorgeous, loving smile. A voice calling out to Jack drew the Canadian's attention away and Ianto was about to look for who had called when a soccer ball flew across the oval and hit Jack in the side of the face.

Ianto leapt up and ran over to his love who was holding his head and stumbling slightly from the blow. Ianto reached Jack at the same time as Seeley; the rest of the group not far behind having seen what happened and run from wherever they were. Ianto grabbed Jack to steady him and the Canadian leant into him moving one hand so he could rest the uninjured side of his face against Ianto's shoulder.

"Jack, are you okay?" Ianto asked worriedly

Jack's only response was to moan quietly and he buried his eyes in Ianto's neck wrapping his free arm around Ianto's waist and holding himself as close as he could.

An icepack appeared out of nowhere and Ianto gently prodded Jack to move his hand so he could press it against the injury.

"That's what dirty, rotten pansies deserve!"

Ianto turned to see Andrew and his friends standing a few metres away laughing at Jack's pain. Anger ripped through Ianto's veins but before he could say anything in reply the group of girls from the public school who'd passed Ianto that morning strode up to Andrew and his friends flanked by an even bigger group of boys.

"Hey asshole!" the girl who'd spoken to Ianto that morning called out.

"What do you want, whore?" Andrew snapped back.

"This is a day for friendly competition, you and your kind are not welcome here so shove off back to your school and crawl back under your rock you slimy, narrow minded, pricks!" the girl snapped.

"How dare you speak to me like that you filthy, heathen, bitch!" Andrew snarled.

"I hate to break it to you asshole but you are more than a little outnumbered here," the girl replied. "If I were you I'd run away now while you still have all your limbs."

Andrew looked around then and Ianto did the same surprised to find a large number of students, from all three schools, congregated around their group and watching Andrew and his lot with angry, suspicious glares. Ianto looked back at Andrew and his lot in time to see them pale as they apparently realized just how much of a disadvantage they were at.

"You're not welcome here, any of you, get the hell out of our school and go back to where you came from!" Ray snarled moving to stand beside the girl from the public school, Morghan and Elena right beside her.

Andrew glared at the group of girls but Ianto could see that it was a front, the boy was wary now and rightly so in Ianto's opinion. Andrew opened his mouth to say something, but obviously thought better of it as he closed it again and walked away; heading toward the oval's back gate with his group of assholes in tow.

Ianto watched him go for a few moments before turning his attention back to Jack. The Canadian's face was still pressed into Ianto's neck, his hand holding the ice pack over the injured side. Ianto stroked his hair gently and held him tightly to his side as the school nurse, having finally heard what had happened, ran up to the group to get a look at the injured boy.

She managed to pry Jack's hand away from his face and took a quick look before directing Ianto to get Jack into the shade and sit him down so she could get a better look. Seeley wrapped an arm around Jack's free side and together they got Jack under one of the marquis that had been set up for the day and sat him down. The nurse managed to coax him away from Ianto's shoulder long enough to do a proper assessment before determining that there was no serious harm done. Jack would have a nasty headache and some bruising but there was no concussion. She then directed the others to take him back to his room so he could rest and this time Owen and Seeley grabbed Jack, Owen reminding Ianto that he was still recovering and shouldn't be supporting anyone else's weight.

They headed back to their dorm and Ianto followed closely behind his hand never leaving Jack's back so the other boy would still know he was there. They hadn't gotten far when Declan approached Ianto and asked if Jack was okay.

"He's okay but he needs to lie down, we're taking him back to the dorm to rest," Ianto replied not pausing to answer which meant Declan needed to walk to keep up with them.

"Are you going to come back down?" the blonde asked.

"No, I'm going to stay with Jack," Ianto replied.

Declan looked disappointed. "Oh, okay." He said quietly. "Well, any chance I could see you again, you know, outside of school?" the blonde boy asked.

Ianto really didn't want to stop but he felt so sorry for the other boy and he didn't want Declan to think he didn't like him or anything of the sort. "Do you have a pen?" Into asked.

Declan nodded and pulled a biro out of his pocket.

Ianto gave the other boy his email address and told him to message when he wanted to do something. Declan wrote it on his arm and gave Ianto a bright, happy smile. "Thank you, I'll do that. I hope Jack feels better," he said before giving Ianto a wave and heading back to the group's area. Ianto waved back and continued on his way to the dorm behind Jack, Owen and Seeley.

XX

Morghan watched Declan approach the group's area and couldn't help the smug feeling of satisfaction that filled her as she saw the disappointed and slightly annoyed expression on his face. The rest of the group weren't paying attention but Morghan was and she knew exactly what was wrong with the blonde boy. His expression changed to a pleasant smile as he reached the group's area and told them all he was heading over to find the rest of his house so he was with them when they heard the scores for the day.

The group bid him a friendly farewell and he told them he was looking forward to seeing them all again soon. He headed away then and Morghan, deciding she had to say something to him before he caused any trouble for Jack and Ianto, jumped up and jogged to catch up with him. As soon as she was close enough for him to hear her without her raising her voice she spoke.

"So, I guess that must have been disappointing for you."

Declan stopped and turned around to face her, a curious, innocent expression on his face that she didn't buy for a moment. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, watching Ianto fawn over Jack, having him just wander off on you like you were nothing to tend to his injured boyfriend when you were so close to trying it on with him; I'm sure that must have stung more than a little," Morghan explained a venomously sweet smile on her face.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Declan replied innocently and Morghan shook her head.

"Oh, yeah you do. Don't play innocent with me I know what's going on. You like Ianto; I saw it while you were talking to him before. I also saw the glare you gave Jack when he came over here and interrupted your little attempted conquest, you covered it up as soon as you noticed I was there but I saw it, so don't bother pretending that's not what's going on," Morghan said with a glare.

Declan looked torn between wanting to tell her to bugger off and continuing to feign innocence- Morghan would have been lying if she said it didn't please her-.

"Hit the nail on the head didn't I?" she asked sweetly. "Do yourself a favour; keep your grubby little hands away from Ianto. He's madly in love with Jack and you don't have even the tiniest chance of stealing him away. You even think about trying and, well, you're obviously a good actor, but I guarantee you I'm better and I will make Ianto and every member of our group hate you inside of a minute, I promise you." Morghan threatened quietly.

"And how exactly would you do that?" Declan asked obviously deciding there was no point feigning innocence anymore.

Morghan gave him a small smile before putting on the sad face she'd perfected during her drama lessons and saying. "But why, Declan, why would you say that about me? I'm not ugly am I, do you really think that?" she asked using another talent she'd learnt in drama to bring tears to her eyes. She sniffled a few times and said, "I thought you could be our friend, I thought you were different to other people, Declan."

Declan looked back at her horrified for a moment before snapping, "Okay, okay you've made your point, now stop it," as quietly as he could glancing around himself to make sure no one else had seen it.

Morghan immediately changed her expression to a smug smile wiping the fake tears from her face with the back of her hand. "I trust I've made my point," she said simply. "You stay away from my friends or you'll wish you had. Now get away from me and don't come back you slimy, two-faced, prick."

Declan gave her an angry glare before turning and stomping away toward the area the rest of his school had congregated in.

"Yeah, good riddance to bad rubbish," Morghan snarled softly as Elena and Ray came up to stand on either side of her.

"Problem sorted?" Ray asked.

"For now," Morghan replied. "Somehow I get the feeling this isn't the last we'll see of our blonde friend. We'll have to keep an eye on Ianto."

The other two nodded and continued to watch as Declan returned to his school area.

XX

Ianto asked Seeley and Owen to help Jack to his room and help him lie down. As soon as they had him sorted they headed out leaving Jack and Ianto alone. Ianto crawled across the bed and over to where Jack was lying with the ice pack still held against his face. His love opened his blue/grey eyes and looked over at Ianto as he settled beside him.

"How's your head?" Ianto asked softly.

"Hurts," Jack replied simply and Ianto gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Do you want something for it? I have Panafen," Ianto offered.

"Cuddle?" Jack asked quietly after a moments consideration and Ianto chuckled slightly holding out his arms. Jack scooted over and cuddled into Ianto's side resting his uninjured cheek on Ianto's shoulder and nuzzling into his neck. Ianto felt a surge of lust as Jack unknowingly found one of the most sensitive parts of his body but immediately squashed it down, now wasn't the time for anything like that.

He must have tensed slightly without him realizing because Jack pulled back slightly and asked, "Is this bothering you?" in a worried tone.

Ianto smiled and shook his head, "No, bothering me isn't the expression I'd use," he replied.

Jack gave him a quizzical look and Ianto knew he had to explain his cryptic response. "Sensitive spot, Jack, that's all, it's okay."

"Oh, should I move?" Jack asked moving to sit up.

"No," Ianto replied placing a gentle hand on his head to stop his escape. He repositioned Jack where he'd been and kissed his crazy, gorgeous hair. "It's fine, I like you there."

It was the truth, having Jack cuddled up to him rather than the other way around for once was really nice and the little thrill of desire he felt every time Jack's breath tickled his neck was a lovely change to the fear he'd always felt when it came to anything sexual in the past thanks to Justin.

Jack didn't say anything else. He snuggled comfortably into Ianto's side and slipped his free hand under Ianto to wrap around his waist and pull himself closer. They lay comfortably for a while before Jack's fingers started softly stroking Ianto's side bringing another surge of lust that Ianto tried to push away but to his surprise found he really didn't want to. He had to though, now really wasn't a good time to be feeling like this.

"Jack," he said his love's name quietly. "Now's probably not the best time for you to be doing that."

The stroking immediately stopped and Jack apologised quietly, "I didn't even realise I was doing it, sorry," he explained sheepishly. "Are you okay?" he asked, "Have I scared you? Do you want me to go?"

"No," Ianto replied immediately, "It wasn't bad, Jack, I liked it, a bit too much actually," he confessed feeling himself blush just a little.

"Oh," Jack replied clearly understanding what Ianto meant. "Okay, I'll remember that for later," he finished pressing a kiss to Ianto's neck that made him gasp quietly before settling down once more.

Ianto pulled Jack closer wishing more than ever that Justin had never existed while at the same time cursing Andrew Mason for kicking that soccer ball at the Canadian. He would have loved to ask Jack to keep going, to stroke a little higher, then maybe a little lower. To touch him all over and make his entire body tingle like his side had while Jack was stroking it.

Of course he couldn't, not just because of Jack's injury but also because of Justin and Ianto's own fear of sex. As much as he wanted to take that step he couldn't just jump into it like that he needed to take it slowly, do things one step at a time.

Besides, if Jack had started stroking higher he would have stumbled across something he probably wasn't expecting to find and that would have ruined the moment entirely. Ianto hadn't thought about how the damage to his back would affect things when he was finally ready to take things further with Jack but it was something he really needed to start thinking about if these feelings of desire were going to increase. He couldn't just let Jack stumble across them he was going to have to explain and let Jack see them before anything else happened between them. It was going to be hard but it had to be done.

Decided Ianto snuggled into Jack and buried his face in the Canadian's hair silently pondering how he was going to broach the subject with Jack. He'd have to get over his fear of taking his clothes off in front of other people so he could show his love, but once he got past that hurdle he had no doubt things would get easier, they certainly couldn't get any harder that was for sure. It was going to be difficult for him, but he knew in the end it would be worth it because the more he thought about the end of the year and what it would ultimately mean for him the more he wanted to get past his inhibitions and give himself completely to the boy he loved before they were separated forever.

XX

end of chapter

there we go everyone what did we think? Review replies will be in the next chapter since I'm trying to post this in a hurry but thank you so much for everyone who reviewed you have no idea how much they mean to me XXOO. Please review everyone I really want to know if you're still enjoying the story or if you think I've lost my marbles and are ruining it?

Kisses and hugs, love you all

Kayla