Chapter 4 - Confusion and Hurt
"Yan-Yan, I also got you a ring like that. Cuz I want you to know I'm always yours." He handed Ianto the ring and the six year old put it on his right hand on the ring finger. Ianto pulled Jack into a tight hug. "Love you so much Jack," he whispered in the Scottish boy's ear. "Love you too so much Yan-Yan," he whispered back.
He and Jack were sharing Jack's room while he was there for Christmas. Both boys were too giddy after the day's events to sleep, and were chatting excitedly about what they wanted to do in the future. Harriet, and even Estelle went to them a few times to shush them. When they wouldn't be quiet, Harriet threatened to make Ianto sleep in her room, instead of with Jack. That got them quiet fast, and eventually the two boys fell asleep, wrapped around each other. When Harriet went to wake them the next morning, she couldn't help smiling at the precious sight. Since she didn't have her camera with her, she called Alice over, who took the photo and promised to give Harriet a copy.
Soon enough, the two started school. They did everything together, and sat next to each other all the time in school. They even walked to and from school together. It was a fairly small town, so everyone knew about the two and thought it was adorable, teachers and students alike. However, when they were starting Year 4, the school got a new teacher. And he didn't like the fact that they were together.
To him, it was wrong and unnatural. In class, he separated the two, and never let them work together. Anywhere he'd go and he saw the two together, he did what he could to separate them. It got bad enough that the boys would come home upset, crying about it to Estelle, Alice and Harriet. It made them furious with the teacher. They called the school multiple times, trying to find a way to have that teacher removed, or to take action against him.
The school was very reluctant to, however, because he was a big supporter of the school. His family donated a lot of money to keep the school open for many years, and if they fired him, or took too strong of disciplinary action against him, they'd lose their funding and wouldn't be able to remain open anymore.
Jack and Ianto tried to fight it, but it was affecting Ianto badly. It was to Jack as well, but he held a brave face. Ianto on the other hand, started becoming more withdrawn. In Year seven, he started giving up the battle, and pulled away from Jack slowly but surely, until they were just acquaintances. Ianto was hurting badly, but he didn't know how to express it. He just withdrew into himself, barely speaking to Jack, and pulling away from their other friends too. He had become close with Toshiko over time, but even that relationship was feeling the strain.
Jack was in pain too. He felt heartbroken. The boy he loved so much, and considered his best friend didn't seem to want anything to do with him anymore. It was stupid, cruel Mr. Pine's fault. He longed to hold Ianto, and to comfort him, but the few times recently that he attempted to do that, he had been rebuffed and Ianto had walked away. It was tearing Jack up inside.
During Year eight, Jack became more and more withdrawn, a former shell of the happy, carefree boy he used to be. On Christmas, he sat on his bed, staring at the ring from so many years ago that he still wore. He recalled that moment when he was six, giving Ianto one on Christmas, after Ianto had given him one. He remembered kissing the Welsh boy on the mouth then, and not just on the cheek as they used to do. That was their first kiss, and up until Year four, they would give each other kisses when they were alone. After the introduction of Mr. Pine and his nonsense, the kisses had stopped, and slowly but surely, the soft touches as well.
It felt like his heart was tearing apart. Estelle, Alice, and Harriet all noticed the changes in the boys, and it pained them as well. They kept trying to find ways to fix the problem, but couldn't figure out anything. Even their friends noticed, and they also kept meeting and trading ideas on how to fix it.
Harriet did everything she could to get Ianto to open up to her, but he stubbornly refused. He refused to talk about Mr. Pine, or the toll he was taking on both him and Jack and their relationship. Even Estelle and Alice tried to talk to Ianto, but to no avail. He was pleasant to them, Harriet always taught him not to be rude, and especially as they were family friends, but he was stubborn.
His heart was breaking too, but he hurt too much to talk about it. He longed to be with Jack, to talk and laugh with him, to touch him and hold him like they used to do. However the arrival of Mr. Pine had changed everything, he was scared and hurt and confused.
Jack was confused and hurt too. He knew he didn't do anything wrong, and couldn't understand why Ianto had pulled away from him. He talked about it with his mother and aunt and Auntie Harriet, but their guess was as good as his. Eventually he stopped trying to ask, and just accepted that there was nothing he could do. Sometimes he still tried to talk to Ianto, and on his birthday every year he'd give Harriet a birthday gift for Ianto. Ianto still gave him birthday gifts, but he wondered if the Welsh boy, like himself, left them in their packaging, too hurt and sad to open them.
For his part, Mr. Pine closely watched the boys, and knew full well what kind of effect his words and actions had upon the boys. He felt satisfied with himself, and began plotting what else he could do to further separate them. He still saw that Jack boy trying to talk with the Ianto boy occasionally, and well, he couldn't allow that, now can he? He began plotting devious things of what he could do to them. The Ianto boy seemed the weaker of the two, he'd make a perfect target. All he had to do was set him up, and then lure him into the trap he had set up.
He decided he'd find a way to get the boy in trouble, make him sit detention, and he, Mr. Pine, would be the moderating teacher over it. That was when he'd make his first move on the Ianto boy to get rid of the devil living in him. Because he could see - even when the boy thought no one was looking - he saw him sneaking longing glances at the Jack boy. They couldn't have that now, could they? Feeling confident his plans would work, he set to work. It was nearing the end of the school year, so he would perfect his plans over the summer - he couldn't risk messing it up, and he'd implement it the following year when the boys were in their Year ten. Next year couldn't come fast enough for him.