Hours later and still Jack hadn't heard a word of Ianto. Maybe that was a good sign, but he couldn't help but think something bad had happened. It was simply in his nature. Ever since that witch had cursed him, he was always wary about such situations. His eyes searched for anything out of the ordinary when he stepped out of the car. Frantically he began to search for his keys. It took him a while to get the key into the keyhole right, but eventually, he turned the lock and opened the door. The silence surprised him, there was only a slight humming hearable throughout the house as he walked inside. Confused he walked further and took off his boots and coat. Clumsily he hung up his coat on the hook and made his way into the living room. It was all so…. pristine.

Like no one had ever lived here at all. His dirty shirts and socks - which had been lying on a chair in the corner - were gone. The dishes in the kitchen were washed and the magazine's who'd been lying across the table were now put on one pile under the table.

''Ianto?'' He screamed. Where was he?

''Ianto? Ianto?'' He yelled throughout the house. He had to be somewhere.

Quickly he went towards the bedroom as he imagined that to be the most logical room for the young man to be, but when he was met with an empty and cleaned bedroom his alarm bells started to ring inside his mind.

"Ianto, are you here?" He opened one door after another but neither gave him the satisfaction of Ianto Jones. His wobbly voice betrayed the true feeling going on inside him. Desperately he went to the only other room left, the bathroom. As quick as his feet could take him he ran towards the bathroom and yanked open the door. There inside on his hands and knees was Ianto Jones humming to something only existing in his brain.

"Ianto?" He asked this time, less frantic now that he'd finally found him. He let out a sigh of relief at having found the troubled man. Ianto - shocked - turned his head around and smiled at him.

"Jack, hi! How are you?" He was definitely drunk or at least on the brink of being tipsy. Ianto sat down on his bum and intriguingly watched him while he stood there trying to control his fear.

"Ianto? What have you done?" The bathroom looked just as clean as the rest of his apartment and the sponge in the Welshman's hand left him with no other conclusion than that Ianto had been stress cleaning, once again. Slowly and wobbly Ianto tried to stand up, he almost fell - and he would've if he hadn't sprinted forwards to catch him - but stood as straight as an asparagus while he leaned against the shower door. His cheeky smile caught him off guard as he watched him slowly take off his yellow rubber gloves.

"What?" It took him a few seconds to control his raging hormones, he had to avert his eyes from those delicate hands in order from things not to escalate on the spot. He swallowed once, twice, thrice, before his dry throat would finally let him pass the saliva normally and Ianto must've heard how he'd loudly swallowed a few times while he'd been eyeing him dreamily.

They were just friends, as long as he kept telling himself that, one day he might actually start believing it.

"You know you didn't have to do that!" He exclaimed unsure about himself and with mixed up feelings.

"I just wanted to be helpful, you know. I couldn't just sit here while the house is a mess." It felt completely logical from Ianto's side, he was a complete neat freak after all.

"So you just decided to clean… everything? Don't get me wrong, I love that you've taken a big job out of my hands, but really, it's not your task to do so."

" I know, I know, it's just after Lisa left I had to do… something, I had to keep my mind distracted." He reasoned with himself. There was something sweet about it, he couldn't really explain it, but it felt good that Ianto had decided to not go down the rabbit hole of his mind when he was left alone - as he'd somehow expected. Carefully he took a few steps towards the broken man and took him in his arms.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned and out of here." He whispered huskily into the young man's ear. It might've been wrong of him to do so, but for once he had no control over his voice. As he retreated his head from Ianto's - he'd expected that the young man would slap him at the least, but no such thing happened - as he grasped his upper arm and guided him out of the bathroom. If Ianto would ever ask about it he would explain as best as he could without ruining everything he had, but for now, it would be as it was and Ianto had probably drunk too much already to remember anyways.

-0O0-

It was hours later when he'd finally sobered Ianto up properly that the next problem arose. The sleeping arrangements. He had only one - double - bed, but that still felt awkward.

"Ianto, be reasonable, you know as well as I do that, that couch is no good for your back and long legs neither is that chair or even the floor." He exclaimed from next to the bed. Ianto was being very stubborn in denying sleeping with him in the same bed. It was big enough to put a fort of pillows in between them so they wouldn't even have to see one another during the sleep they both needed so much, one night without could be dealt with, but two nights was out of the question. Whatever he tried, Ianto kept standing in the doorway - completely dressed - and staying headstrong about his decision.

"You know sometimes you can be a real pain in the arse." He muttered under his breath as he poofed down on the bed and rolled to his favourite side. From the corner of his eye, he could see Ianto glancing at the bed longingly. There was nothing stopping him. Warily he walked forwards towards the bed and sat down on the empty side. Smiling Jack celebrated a private party inside his brain as he'd finally got Ianto so far to sleep in the same bed - on terms of course. Without actually seeing he could feel the bed dip, a smile transformed his face, he knew it was wrong, if he couldn't control his feeling then everything was gone and if he gave the witch her way then Ianto would be dead within no time. The curse was really getting to him these days, with every coming day it was getting harder to live with it, but what choice did he have? He was immortal, so even if he committed suicide he would just resurrect.

"Common, I'm not that bad." He told Ianto reassuringly. Before he could even blink the Welshman was lying on his back, still completely clothed, with drooping eyes. Courageous he turned on his side and leaned on his forearms, his head only a few centimetres away from his mates face.

"You know, you would be more comfortable in something less… tight." He whispered into the quiet night air. Alarmed Ianto's upper body rose up, his angelic appearance did nothing to mask the panic he must've been feeling right now at being rudely awoken. He'd seemed so close to fade away into dreamland, but in the end, he would be glad about the interruption.

"Yeah, uhm…" frantically Ianto began to search around him - probably for his suitcase - and sat up straight. His cheeks began to blush as he finally found the object he'd been trying to find.

"You know where the bathroom is if you don't want me to see." He simply said and closed his eyes. Fatigue was catching up with him as his eyelids began to slowly close. The stressful day had been enough to make him fall asleep on his feet, let alone on his soft mattress under his soft sheets. Swiftly after he'd closed his eyes to rest them for a bit while he waited for his friend he felt the bed dip again. Sluggishly he opened them again and saw Ianto sitting against the headboard hugging his knees, his eyes alert and his body tense.

" It's only me, relax." His hand went towards the Welshman's knee where it met cloth. Anxious blue eyes met his own blue eyes, so he made a plan.

"Okay, as promised, let's get those pillows situated." He proclaimed as he sat up with renewed energy and went towards the closet where he left his spare pillow and where he put the decorative pillows when the bed wasn't made. Out he got at least 5 pillows, enough to satisfy him he hoped. He placed them neatly in between their bodies - under the blanket - and lay down again when everything seemed fine. Ianto's face seemed far more relaxed when the pillows separated their bodies from each other. Only thing was, it left them with a little less of the blanket. The smile on Ianto's face he was rewarded with was enough to decide it was worth it.

" Now, time to dream!" He declared as he switched off the bed sidelight. The darkness was all surrounding, but he could just see Ianto's sleepy face before he finally closed his eyes for today.

It was around 4 am when he woke up once again, cold and shivery. The blanket had gone, out of habit he reached for the footboard where his blanket would normally lie twisted in between his legs. But not today, this time he found out that a particular young man was hogging the bedcover and wasn't going to let him have one bit more. Sleepily he walked through the dark room towards the closet and took out the spare blanket. He wrapped himself in it and collapsed on the bed again, asleep before he knew it.

-0O0-

The pillows stayed, just as the extra blanket. One conversation with his friend had given him all the answers he'd needed to know that it was better for them to keep separate blankets. It was a few days later and many more embarrassing situations later that Jack found himself sitting on his bed, on his half of course. His white sleeping shirt on and legs bare. Glasses on and a book placed firmly on his lap with his knees faced skywards. The bathroom lamp was weirdly enough still on as Ianto hadn't yet retreated from the bathroom, even though he'd fled away about 45 minutes ago.

" You okay in there?" He shouted from his place, Ianto had been acting rather peculiar all day long and he couldn't help but think something was wrong. It might've been that today was the day. But he couldn't be too sure. When they'd woken up after their first night 'together' he'd pressured the young man into calling his relatives and telling them the news. As expected things hadn't gone that well, but at least it had been dealt with. Then came maybe the worst call, so he'd swapped places with him and called the wedding planner. They weren't too pleased that he called off all of their wedding reservations last minute but reassured him that no additional costs would be charged. It had been expected that they would still bill him with the booking costs, which Ianto decided he would pay. Even though Lisa and her cheating had been the reason for the breakup, he still didn't want to fax the bill towards her as Jack had asked him to do. No, he was simply too good for that. Ianto was too good for this world.

" Yup, I'll be just a second," Ianto yelled back from behind the closed door. Outside the wind blew hard and leaves flew through the air. Rain clattered against the window when the door creaked and gradually opened. The almost dark room was flooded with light as the door stood askew. He looked up and saw Ianto's shape creeping into the room. At first, he didn't notice anything else as he walked towards the bed, he was still clothed in his PJ's after all, but as soon as he faced the younger man he knew what was going on.

''I know, I know, I look ridiculous!'' Ianto insisted on his spot beside the bed. A set of glasses were edged firmly on his nose and matched his own pair of glasses currently resting on his nose.

''No, No… you look… amazing! Really.'' A blush spread across his face while he tried to find the right words to say. There was something… Sexy about those glasses. Something that only enhanced his attractiveness to him. To others, it may have seemed lame or dorky, but he had to bite his lip in order for him to control himself.

''I forgot to take my lenses, I need to get new ones every month. So I've got to wear those until I find the time to buy new ones.'' Awkwardly he lowered himself a bit and adjusted his stance to hide the growing bulge in his boxers. His face flushed and suddenly his ability to swallow became critical. He was lucky that he had his book to cover the delicate area around his crotch. His gulp became quite noticeable as Ianto turned around and watched him.

''Are you alright?'' He asked politely before he lied down himself. He nodded not daring to speak.

''Why don't you keep those glasses? They look good, really.'' He eventually exclaimed when Ianto had lain down.

''I don't know. We'll see.''

A/N: Hope you like it and please leave a review.

XXXFredAndGeorgeForever