9

They were working diligently on their first room in their house, the guest bedroom. Ianto knew this would be where they would sleep from now on, the end of Tent City and he also knew some of them clearly did not realize this as Carl decided to be a twat and twist the rules.

The Smartarse was 'secretly' making the room a Games Room instead and Ianto and Jack were so damned amused by this. He thought he was so clever, boasting to the camera that no one else had thought of this, how his house would be for a young professional without kids and this was the perfect room for a gamer…. Blah blah… ego stroke… blah… bullshit.

Jack stood in the doorway with his mouth open as he stared at the black walls… black carport… black ceiling… the single pendant light being installed and the clear stupidity as a pool table was unpacked in the centre of the room. Not even a pull out couch?

"Hi Jackie" Carl said with glee when he noticed him "What do you think? Too late to change your mind now, your boring little room is nothing compared to this, right?"

Jack looked around slowly, taking in the pinball machine, the Pac Man arcade game and the table in the corner with four chairs and what looked like a poker game already in progress. He had to admit it was being dressed nicely but… "where will you sleep?"

Helen clambered down from the ladder she had been clinging to and smiled softly as she walked over to talk to Jack "Well... we figured there are a lot of couples like yourself… gay … right? So, instead of a useless room… we have created some fun."

Jack stared at her as he tried to work out what she was saying "Huh? What does being gay have to do with it?"

"No kids" she said with a roll of her eyes and Carl nodded enthusiastically.

Jack balked, and then he looked at the camera man with mild amusement "Ah. I see. I am gay so I am not going to be a father?"

"Well, Ianto might be your 'little woman' but he can't pop out a bub for you, right?" came the laughed reply form Carl.

"No. We had someone else do that for us" Jack said slowly "We have two children."

Carl's smile froze and Helen blinked furiously and looked around "But…but... you're gay."

"Bi actually. Me and Ianto are both Bi. Been with women too but find one another… perfect ..ah …. You know… there are couples that choose to be childless… Child Free they call it, right? I get where you are going" Jack changed the subject as Helen continued to gape at him with the weird blinking going on "I just wonder is it is a little … polarizing. Hard for a buyer to change the room into something else… that black is…. Powerful."

"Why don't' you worry about your own shit storm, eh?" Carl asked angrily now "We are almost done. Judging tomorrow… we know this is going to be a game changer and your negativity is not helping us right now. Helen, get back up and finish that touch-up."

Jack left with a feeling of total confusion and he went to find Ianto who was putting the final touches on their room. A room they could live in for the next few weeks.

The bed was huge, covered in a mass of fluff and softness. Candy cane was the theme here. Red and white exploding all over the place. Ianto knew it would be comfortable and they would sleep well, nothing else mattered as he deliberately left the room unfinished with the wall behind the bed not painted. They were not trying to win, remember?

"Honey?"

Ianto glanced up, about to challenge that pet name and remembered they were in a game, rising from behind the bed to wave "Darling?"

"Carl and Helen are doing a games room for a Child Free couple and… they were a bit rude" Jack said tactfully "I think… I think you might be a little…. Ah… insulted too?"

"Insulted?" Ianto frowned "Huh?"

Jack stood staring at that back wall and sighed "Judging tomorrow, too late to be serious here. Carl will crow about us not completing and I will get pissy."

Ianto looked back at the wall then to Jack "Cariad? You…you wanna compete? For real?"

"Yeah… he pissed me off and…. Yeah. Want to at least have a score on the board, even if we do not want to win, I want him to see us as a threat. I want to give it a go.. if only to piss him off. He was … ah…"

"Jack, say the word."

"Homophobic."

Ianto knew his eye twitched as he looked at Jack who had used one of his most hated words, then back to the wall. "Well… the wallpaper is in the tube to go up there before the final week so we can sell the place. Fix up week was to be when we did that but if you want to complete the room… it will only take a couple of hours to prep the wall to hang… if you help."

"Wallpaper?"

"It's a scene… see? This is going to be a room for a teenager girl or a guest. The wall behind the bed is a scene with cartoonish animals all in red and white stockings, like they are in a cancan girl line up in a saloon … see?" Ianto showed him the picture on the side of the tube "It's a huge mural. I found it so funny."

"Ianto, this is bloody hilarious. look at that hippo in the frilly knickers." Jack laughed.

And so… they finished their room. They would be on the board, they would make sure they were higher than Carl… who would find himself on the bottom of the leader board.

Ianto watched the footage later and felt that eye twitch again.

Carl was really making an impression now.