Day 26: Sleep-over/cleaning up
"Did you party in here?" Jack first question was when he entered Ianto's house with a sleeping Gray in his arms.
Ianto smiled innocently and his mother shrugged.
"Just come in, I'll be quick," Ianto smiled.
Jack put Gray on the couch, and helped the reduced family to clean the place up.
"What actually happened?" Jack asked after a while.
"Well," Ianto explained. "We forgot that a fuse melted if we didn't unplug the dishwasher, except that it's hard to do, and we could have unplugged other things, but, honestly? We were too lazy. So the house went black and I couldn't find my phone again, and, well... I had to go blind there."
"Are you fine?"
"Yeah, we just have to buy new fuses for next time... And maybe stop using those Christmas lights," Ianto laughed. "Oh, and we tasted some whiskey, and maybe we drank a bit too much."
His mother nodded with a smile, and Jack looked shocked. Drinking with his mother wasn't something he would ever do, but being drunk with his mother? Was it really a thing? He smiled when they talked about their Christmas Day, mentioning what they had done – mainly lazily watching TV, but also going out in the snow – and Ianto's mother showed her son's gift with more pride than needed.
It was a book she had read when she was a child but had never found again, just because she had completely forgotten the title or the author. It hadn't been easy for Ianto to find it again, but hours on the internet and the library had helped him.
Ianto had received a black jacket from her mother, and he loved it. He was wearing it inside, even if it wasn't that cold, and Jack had to admit, it looked good on him.
He helped them clean the place up, then kissed Gray's forehead, the boy still sleeping, and joined them in the kitchen.
"Thanks for keeping Gray," Jack said.
He had found someone to keep him, but then Ianto had said that her mother would be glad to do so, and he had accepted. She truly looked happy about it, saying it would remind her when Ianto was younger, and told the two boys to enjoy their time alone.
Ianto thanked his mother and kissed her on the cheek, then threw his bag on his shoulder and followed Jack outside.
"So," Jack said once in the car. "I'll come and take Gray pretty early, and give you a ride so my mom'll spend the day with us then take Gray back home. We were thinking about going to the karaoke night tomorrow, are you interested?"
"What, in me embarrassedly singing in front of your mother? No thanks."
"Oh no, the we was for friends, not family! Tosh threw the idea the other day."
"Why have I not been informed?"
"She said you hated karaoke."
"Yeah, well, yes I do."
"So, will you come?"
"We'll talk about it later," Ianto said, turning the volume of the music up.
Jack laughed, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Does your promise still stand?" he asked over the music.
"I've never promised anything," Ianto shrugged, beating his foot at the rhythm of the music.
He soon moved his head and his fingers, and Jack looked sideways at him, smiling when he saw how happy Ianto looked.
"The one that involved my Christmas gift," Jack said after a while.
Ianto froze and frowned, turning to Jack. "Did I say we'd do anything with the stopwatch?" he asked.
Jack burst out laughing. "No, I don't really see what you could do with a stopwatch."
"Oh, lots of things," Ianto smiled.
"... Right. Please don't say anything more, I'm driving."
"Yeah, sorry. And don't worry, I didn't forget. So who will eat on who?" Ianto grinned from his seat.
"It's my gift," Jack pouted.
"Precisely. So who? You get to decide. Think about it," Ianto said in a low voice.
And Jack thought about it. He had pictured Ianto sprawled on his bed, with a line of hot chocolate on him, waiting for Jack to lick it away, but now that Ianto mentioned it, he also liked the idea of lying on the bed and waiting for Ianto to do the same. He loved the fact that Ianto was topping more than the other way around.
He tightened his hands on the steering wheel and concentrated on the road.
"How about we wait until we're home, safe, and we think about this?"
"Too late for me thinking about it," Ianto pouted, and looked at Jack intensively. "And you too apparently."
"Okay, can we just stop talking about that? I don't want to die in a car accident."
"Right," Ianto nodded. "How's your mother?"
Well, that calmed Jack's desire instantly, at least.
"Fine, I guess?" he answered. "Shit, that's a big turn-off..."
"I know, parents work really good for this," Ianto laughed.
They made it to Cardiff without dying, and enjoyed the night they had.
In the end, Jack even got both pictures he had in mind when they felt that they could do with a second round.