9

They had unpacked and spent a night in the new beds, both boys in one of course. The next morning Jack woke to find Ianto already gone from their own bed, rising to find him. He exited the large double sized bedroom while pulling on a fluffy robe to first open the door opposite that had another double room and huge bed, the two little lumps showing Ianto was not in there with them. Jack felt a little silly now for thinking maybe Ianto had left him in the night, clearly not.

He padded down the short hallway past the other two normal sized rooms, one another bedroom next to the boys and the one next to their own room was actually a quiet little office or den area. Jack was not too sure, he had not taken a lot of time last night to examine the place, his focus on Ianto. This morning the door was ajar and he saw a desk in the middle of the room covered in papers, filing cabinets and a large old computer from the last century that most likely still worked like a boss on the far wall with the window to the back yard framed with photos of a little boy. Ianto? Jack made a mental note to go in there later to check, not many photos of him seemed to exist.

Ah. Ianto.

Standing in the huge kitchen that wrapped the corner of the room with the generous island bench all that separated the kitchen from the main living area of the huge open plan glass walled space. All dressed and fully buttoned up, as per usual. Ianto had his back to him as he worked the griddle and after a while said softly "you could get the orange juice out of the fridge and pour Nate's glass to warm to room temperature for him if ya like."

Jack was startled, then laughed softly to himself as he should have knowing this man knew every creak and groan of the house, likely listening to his footfalls arcos the hall to check the kids before coming out here to the daytime side of the house.

Nate liked his food warm or room temperature. Not too cold, not too hot. Also a super taster, he only liked certain foods, brands… at first this annoyed Jack given the fact JD ate anything and everything but Ianto had explained that this as not jut a control thing, Nate had something called a Sensory Processing Disorder, something he himself suffered as a child. Jack had no idea this even existed and his own research into picky child eaters found him entering a rabbit hole that showed he should be happy this was all it was, some of the stories so sad and shocking.

Nate was on the low end of the scale, able to process and attempt a new food if given time to think it over and he would sometimes even agree to a rare bite now and then on the fly, if sure it was not going to kill him. But he had his little bents that he liked, drinks were to be room temperature, same sorts of food on certain days and nothing could touch each other on the plate. The food itself could vary. One month pasta rules. Then suddenly it makes him gag. Ianto took it all in his stride and Jack set the table while thinking over so many things he took for granted, simply left for Ianto to sort out and accepted as 'not his problem' when really he should have been more attentive here. Right?

"I always have the glass with the dragon on it" Ianto said absently as he broke an egg into a little sandwich cutter in the fry pan, making it into a one eyed ghost. Yeah… JD had some special things too, only Ianto made sure to do them so the little boy felt special. Not everything could be about Nate. Jamie Dee was the fun kid, each time his plate was different, a surprise for him.

"So, this place is super cool" Jack tried for some small talk, trying to make it a positive morning. Whatever things they needed to talk about that were heavy could wait. A good morning meant a good day.

"I love it here. Always did. You know… my mama lied to me about not knowing where my Tad was. All this time, she talked to him regularly and gave him updates about me while he chose to stay out of my life. How fucked up is that? I grieved him leaving me and it was her making all these rules or he would lose the photos and school report cards if he fought her" Ianto said in the same calm voice.

OK. So… we are not doing a nice morning thing. OK.

"How do you know that? Did she say?"

"No. I spent the morning in the office, he had a file full of her letters about me. Lawyer's letters and such, documents showing how he fought to have visitation and she blocked him at every turn. she lied to me. All this time. She used me to punish him for leaving her for a man. Can you believe that? Missus LBTQ+ … who did not have an inkling that her own son was bisexual… did this to him for the same reason she fights for those young kids and such at her shelter. Stellar mum, stellar!" Ianto stopped tlkaing and turned to place the plate on the table, looking past Jack "Well? Come on, it's going to get cold."

JD shoved Jack out of the way like a little thug, racing or the table to clamber up and immediately seize the knife to kill the ghost, the glee clear as he snarled menacingly, and the tomato sauce he then drizzled on it liking decidedly bloody. He giggled as he told them all that the ghost cutter was the bestest one yet.

Nate did not look at his brother's plate as he sedately entered the eating area, preferring to wait for his own with the toast already cooled and the egg a completely perfectly round one. Jack looked over at the cookie cutters on the bench and pondered how Ianto did it, kept things so buttoned down. Did he have those things in his glove box or in a 'go bag' or something? As if hearing his thoughts Ianto said softly "They were mine, already here in the drawer for me. Tad kept them."

"So, wow. You were a ghost or a circle? No wait… no. Tell me there was a star one" Jack demanded and Ianto opened the drawer to remove one with his finger, the star making Jack laugh.

"My fairy bread was cut with this too, Rhiannon hated it. Used to make fun of me for being a weirdo. Of course, she had her crust cut off and sometimes a special plate that no one was allowed but that's different" Ianto said with a glare that had Jack laughing.

"I had my favorite cowboy hat. From the age of three to five… maybe six? Every photo almost, I am in the bright red cowboy hat. Mama hated it but I was a damned terror" Jack laughed softly "Loved that hat."

"Well now, my lonesome cowboy no more" Ianto sat finally, his own plate about half the size of Jack's but nothing was said. Jack then realized this was always how it was and he had missed it. Ianto always ate like this, had long before the kids and he had just never noticed that his husband had an eating disorder.

Man.

He had to open his damned eyes more.