1

Ianto had been excited to get the job. After all, his green card was still so new and everything was finally so sweet. It had been a year since things went tits up so to speak and in that time he had not only found himself a newly minted American… a sexy American… a family… a house… OK… an entire cul-de-sac ….snigger… but now he had a job. The fact he had to lose his sister to achieve this was not lost on him but he knew she would not want him to dwell and... well… positivity right?

Jack had complained about it straight away, pointing out that they did not NEED money, he had plenty. They did not NEED disruption to the routine that had formed of Ianto being the bloody wife here but clearly… Ianto felt differently.

"Jack, it is during school hours. Nine-thirty to two in the afternoon… I drop them off, do some things, get to work, and then finish in time to do errands, pick up the kids and be home before you anyway." Ianto had argued as John had sat with his head whipping back and forth between the two men.

"And when you have to work late? When a kid is sick?" Jack said with that pretentiousness he can possess when cornered.

"Your mother can drive… your father can drive… hell… Rose is taking a gap year to focus on some charity work… I have many hands here since apparently you could not possibly care for the kids" Ianto said in a dangerous tone that had stopped that argument dead in the water.

A little department store that sold household items. Ianto loved it. They soon worked out his bent for numbers and order, watching with glee as he accepted incoming stock, imported it like a pro and then processed to divvy up the stock to its designated areas with more speed than any other employee. Ianto had joy in his work, pride in his work and a feeling of being useful, highlighted by the grateful looks fro the other staff.

Of course… I would not be explaining all of this to you if it were all roses and chocolates right? No. The first problem was one that came from the side, putting Ianto on the back foot for a moment or two. A colleague, working there same hours as him, hired about two months earlier than him causally mentioning his pay check. Huh? Ianto had accepted the guy's phone to see the e-mail on the screen with the breakdown on his pay sheet and felt something inside him shift.

This guy was on over $2 per hour more.

Cue a polite question to HR as to why they were on different pay grades and getting the polite response of 'none of your business' which always sat right with Ianto… right? He then started to causally talk to others and learned that their pays were all different, some made sense and some didn't. Ianto then looked at his workload compared to those with a higher pay grade around him and realized what he knew Jack would crow over if he said anything at home. Mister Polman's fingerprints were all over this, the homophobic arse who had recoiled when learning Ianto had a male partner.

Yeah.

Ianto was a mug.

Never let it be said Ianto was not professional… no… we all know Ianto is incapable of slacking even if he is a seething ball of revenge and malicious compliance rolled in to Welsh politeness. Oh no … Ianto would never speak up. Nope. He would simply read his contract from the first word on the first page to the signatures on the last page, his eyes full of righteous rage and decide that clearly… they needed to understand his thoughts on the matter.

Ianto knew Jack would crow but also… he knew John would not so he bypassed Jack in a rare someone of clarity and spoke directly to Thing 2. John was curious, interested, annoyed, angry and then once he realized Ianto had a plan… excited. Really? He could play too?

"What about Jack?"

Ianto shook his head as he did not want Thing 1 to help with this, not after the misogynistic way he had responded to Ianto getting the job in the first place. Nope.

Treat me like the 'little woman' then I will accept that you will not help me here.

Ianto chose his attire as carefully as he did most nights, placing the suit, shirt and tie on the chair for the morning as well as the singlet, socks and underwear. Jack especially liked to see what underwear Ianto would choose as not many people knew that this dower, three piece suited man always had such cute undies.

Upon seeing the dragons spewing fire all over the silk boxers he knew something was up. These were his fighting undies, worn when he wanted to have a little more heat in his balls. Someone had upset him or pissed him off and Jack wondered who would dare poke that dragon.

He knew damned well John knew too, the smug way he had been acting as well as Ianto's quiet phone calls to Toshiko and Owen a giveaway that he was chewing on something so when Ianto told him that the two had applied to the University here as lecturers and would be moving into the cul-de-sac during their time here he thought maybe that was it.

Of course….

We are ready for war!