Stimulus: Expectations
Spoilers: From the series? None. But there are some unwelcome insights to our favourite captain's personal life…
POV: MINE :)
Dedication: Rosie – never thought I'd find another hardcore DT fan at my school!! Whooo!! (We have a thing for the Adipose. Hmm… drabble ideas…)
Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood. If I did, then the 456 would be a shriveled mess in a museum right now and I would have a picture of Ianto standing and laughing at it. RTD is such a BITCH! Obviously he has never encountered the full wrath of hormonal teenagers :)
AN: I'm thinking of starting a fic called 'The Diary Of Ianto Jones', which is… obviously… Ianto's diary, but set during the time when Jack went away. What do you think? If you have any better title ideas please tell :P
-x-
There are many different types of expectations. One might be, for example, fulfilled. This is a phrase which hereby means that an expectation that one might harbor is correct/carried out, like for example the time when Jack went to Micheal Jackson's house and said… well, let's not go into that. The point is, they are presumptions that are right and therefore fulfilled.
Another one is unfulfilled. It is the opposite of what a fulfilled expectation might or might not entail. For example, if Ianto Jones said 'you have got to be kidding me' (and he does, frequently), there is a (large. VERY large) chance that this expectation will be unfulfilled. We accept that Jack is not 'kidding him' but is in fact deadly serious and we shudder a bit and move on.
At Torchwood there are all sorts of expectations, buzzing around the heads of all the not-quite-innocent people working there as they hurry on with their busy, busy lives. Gwen and Jack expects there to be coffee on the table when they scramble into the main Hub. This expectation, thanks to the undeserved resilience of Ianto Jones, is fulfilled. Unfortunately as it mostly takes place at various hours of the morning his reciprocal expectation (for the other two to say 'thank you' instead of 'mmm' or 'grunt' or 'pass the sugar') this presumption is unfulfilled. This type of expectation is also the most common when it comes to Torchwood… most unfortunately so, but so nonetheless.
For example, when Ianto Jones wandered past that room in the Archives and saw that door with 'DO NOT ENTER' written all over it and the locks and the deadbolt, several expectations leapt to mind. One might have been that the room contained Jack's diary – quarantined thus because… well, use your imagination. (Or rather don't). Another might have been that it contained the skull of another long lost brother/lover that the captain stole away to pine over every night like a combination of Mr and Mrs Macbeth rolled into one.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
Fraid not, Ianto m'dear.
"JACK!"
"What?"
"Get a bin bag. NOW."
Another example of an unfulfilled expectation was that of Gwen Cooper the next morning. When she walked into the Hub that day she expected once again for there to be coffee on the table and an ever-so-cheery Jack coming down from his office in the dark with a flustered looking Ianto. She did not expect to find a very grumpy looking Jack sat with his arms folded tightly across his chest while a firm yet irritated Ianto stood over him brandishing his finger like a weapon and telling the immortal that it was 'for his own good'.
And when she asked "What's going on?", she definitely didn't expect what came next.
"I made him throw out his Barbie dolls."