Once again, I'd like to thank everyone that's still reading, and welcome the new followers. Hope you all like what's coming. Consider dropping a few lines every once in a while, so I can know what you all have thought of the story so far. Remember, reviews make authors keep writing. ;) Enjoy the new chapter!

They got to the living room, and Jack started moving towards the shelf.

"Do you mind if I..." He said, pointing to it.

"No, be my guest." Ianto replied, sitting on the couch.

Jack studied the books and DVD's displayed on the shelf. He found a few history books, a few classics, which made sense, considering what Ianto was studying before, and quite a lot of films and books on science fiction.

"Never would've pegged you as a science fiction lover." He said, turning around, moving to sit on the couch.

"Oh, yeah. Aliens, time travel. I love all that stuff. When I was a kid I dreamt that I would work for an organization that studied alien stuff and fought to protect the human race. I thought that by now we would've already made contact with other civilisations, and I wanted to be right in the middle of it. Unfortunately, that's not the case, so I settled for studying British history." Ianto said, huge smile on his face, as if he was a little kid again. "Still hoping I can one day prove that there are werewolves in the Royal family." He said, barely containing his excited laughter.

"Werewolves?" Jack asked sceptically, looking as if he thought Ianto was a little bit mad.

He chuckled. "It's an old urban legend." He replied, not seeming to care one bit how Jack was looking at him. "It'd be pretty cool if it were true, though, wouldn't it?"

"Um, you don't really believe in all that, do you?"

"Nah, not really. But I like to keep my mind open, you know? I mean, clearly most of what we read in science fiction is not true, but so much has already happened that no one believed would be possible. C'mon, we have a robot on Mars! How amazing is that? I just like the idea that life can be more fantastic than what we see when we're too busy with our routines, you know? It may be a bit daft, but I'd rather be a bit childish and allow myself to dream, than to become a boring, grumpy adult, who only worries about paying taxes and complains about the government."

"Ianto Jones, you surprise me." Jack said, a hint of pure amazement in his eyes.

"I know I look extremely stoic and boring on the outside... and I think I prefer it that way. I don't like to call attention to myself." He commented, with a thoughtful look. "But when it's just me... I don't ever want to stop dreaming."

"That may be how you look, but you're anything but boring. There's something special about you. I've always known that."

He focused on Jack, and was surprised to see that he was being totally sincere, without a hint of flirting. Ianto wasn't used to being complimented like that, seen like that, usually being very successful in hiding in the shadows, and he had no idea what to say to that. He just smiled shyly at Jack, and turned the conversation around before the silence became uncomfortable.

"So what do you like, Jack?"

"Well, I'm sorry to say that I think I'm becoming a boring, grumpy adult who only pays taxes, complains about the government, and forgets to dream." Jack said jokingly. Ianto laughed softly at that, and Jack laughed, too. He got a thoughtful look on his face, and started staring at his hands, folded in his lap. "I mean, I flirt, and I joke, and I'm great at lightening the mood when the situation requires it, but if I stop to think about it... I'm not so sure I enjoy myself doing stuff that much any more. These things I do are kind of second nature to me, not necessarily something I do to enjoy myself, even if it looks like it. I'm not so sure there's any part of myself left that allows itself to completely relax, and be a bit naïve. Well, except for..." He looked up, searching Ianto's eyes. "Promise not to laugh?"

"Cross my heart." He replied, doing the motion.

"Well, I don't do it much any more, but it's something that I think will always hold meaning to me. It's something I still think about every once in a while, and I suppose you could say it's when I allow myself to dream..." He paused, not really prepared to say it out loud. Ianto looked at him, curiosity and encouragement in his eyes.

Jack took a deep breath. "I used to love reading romance novels. I still do it sometimes, when I have the time, although very rarely. Always the ones where you have this big dashing hero, who always comes at the right time, always knows the right thing to do, and never fails to save everyone. That's what I dreamt about. I wanted to be the hero, to know the answers, to be strong." He sighed deeply, dejectedly. "I guess I turned out to be the exact opposite." Now he just looked forlorn. "That's probably why I don't dream that much any more." It was said barely above a whisper.

Ianto regarded Jack for a while, sympathy flowing in his eyes. Not that Jack could see it, he was still staring intently at his hands. Without really thinking, Ianto reached over, and took one of Jack's hands in his own. That startled Jack, and he turned to Ianto again.

"I know you don't see it that way, but I think that what you did today was pretty heroic. Heroism doesn't have to mean a knight in shining armour, or big gestures that save the world. It's being there when someone needs you, being selfless, brave, caring. From what I've seen today, you're all of that." Ianto said softly. Jack scoffed.

"I think you're seeing way too much into everything I did today. And believe me when I say, that would absolutely not be your opinion if you knew me better." He paused for a while, and added under his breath. "If you knew my past."

Ianto didn't know what to say. It's not like he could argue with that, he really barely knew Jack. He also didn't want to pry.

"You're right, I don't know you that well. But I also know that our past doesn't define us. Whatever you've done, whatever happened, you're still a good man. I know that much."

"Thank you." He still didn't believe it, he wasn't sure he was ever going to be able to believe something like that, that he could be good, useful, needed. But he appreciated Ianto's attempts at cheering him up anyway.

Ianto knew Jack didn't really believe him, and he still wanted to do something to help him feel better. For some reason, seeing him like that made his heart ache. He noticed the empty cup on the coffee table. Maybe that would help.

"I'm going to make more coffee. Care for another cup?"

"Yeah, that would be great, actually." Jack tried to smile, but it didn't reach his eyes.

Okay, no more sore subjects, Ianto thought. Although, how could he possibly know what a sore subject would be? He'd just asked what he liked, for Christ's sake. That was supposed to make for easy conversation. Either way, he didn't want Jack to leave feeling like that. He was trying to make things up to him, not make him depressed. Maybe he could find something good in the telly, something funny. Maybe that would distract him.

In the living room, Jack was also thinking about the conversation they'd just had. What had made him say all that? Now he was all down, and making Ianto worried. There was something about the other man. Something that made Jack trust Ianto, made him feel safe. Although he doubted he'd ever trust anyone enough to tell the whole story. It was too humiliating. He didn't want anyone to see how weak and worthless he truly was. And for some reason, especially not Ianto. Okay, time to lighten the mood. He was good at that, wasn't he? Time to put that quality to good use.

Ianto came back to the living room a few minutes later, holding the two cups. He was about to suggest turning on the telly, but Jack never gave him the chance.

"So, this one time, I was presenting a new project to a group of buyers." Jack had a huge smile on his face, and Ianto wondered if he'd walked into a parallel universe again. Where was the dejected Jack he'd just left ten minutes before? He sat down again, in complete awe of the transformation. "I was trying to be funny, you know, lighten the mood and all that, I'm great at that, so let's use it to relax the clients and maybe make them more likely to approve the project. I was telling stories and funny jokes all the time, alternating between that and presenting some aspect of the project to them, and I could even find a way to make jokes while presenting, you know, two birds, one stone. I kept noticing the women sniggering, blushing slightly, and people exchanging looks and laughing. I was so focused on what I was doing, that it never occurred to me that they might not be laughing at my jokes, I just thought I was being this huge success. So the presentation ends, I say goodbye to everyone, they're all smiling, and I'm pretty confident that it had all gone incredibly well. I turn to leave the site, and one of my colleagues turns to me and says 'Please excuse me, Jack, but...' My colleague looked incredibly embarrassed, and I had no idea why. '...Your fly is open,' he said. I look down, and I see that my trousers are unbuttoned, and my fly is half way down. Worst part, you could totally see Spiderman's head through the opening."

"Oh, my God, you were wearing Spiderman underwear?" Ianto asked, not even trying to contain his laughter.

"What, he's one of my favourite heroes! That's what I always wear in difficult situations, it's my lucky charm!"

Ianto couldn't stop laughing, cheeks burning red, tears rolling down his face. Jack started to worry that the man might choke. It took a few minutes for him to calm down and catch his breath.

Complete success, Jack thought.

After that, everything started flowing. They talked, laughed, shared stories. They managed to avoid any other difficult subjects, and both men were completely comfortable with each other. Anyone who saw them would've assumed they'd been friends forever.

A very long time later, Jack glanced at his watch, through another fit of laughter.

"Oh, wow, is that really the time?" He asked, seeing it showed that it was half past three in the morning.

Ianto searched for his phone, wiping tears from his eyes. "God, how did it get this late?"

"I never even noticed that we'd been talking for so long."

"Me neither."

"Time really does fly when you're having fun." Jack said, still looking surprised.

"Yes. Yes, it does." Ianto held a warm smile, and a fond look on his face. "I really enjoyed myself tonight, Jack."

"Me, too." Jack returned the smile, and the look. They stared at each other for a while, almost too long for it to be comfortable.

"I should go." Jack finally said, barely containing a sigh. "We both had a long day today, we should rest."

"Yeah... yeah, you're right. Are you going to be okay, to drive back home?"

"Yeah, don't worry, I'll be fine." Jack smiled reassuringly. They both got up and headed towards the door.

"Thanks for dinner, Ianto. You're really not as bad a cook as you think you are." Ianto smiled embarrassedly. "But most of all, thank you for the coffee. My standards are considerably higher now." This time, Ianto just laughed.

"It was my pleasure."

"So, I guess I'll see you Saturday."

"Yeah, see you Saturday. Good night, Jack. Drive safe."

"Good night, Ianto."

Ianto closed the door behind Jack, and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed, completely lost in thoughts. He had no idea, when that day started, that he would end it with a new, totally unexpected friend. And a great one at that.

xXxXx

The next Saturday, Ianto woke up before the alarm. He felt really good, this time actually looking forward to the day ahead. He couldn't help but be amused, thinking about how different he felt from the previous Saturday. Before, this used to be the worst day of his week, the one he was constantly dreading. Today, he was actually happy. He was excited. He'd thought about it a lot during the week. The other Saturday had been fun. Extremely fun. In fact, he couldn't remember when was the last time he'd had so much fun. He still couldn't wrap his head around what had happened. He didn't think he'd ever been this wrong about a person before. That goes to show the cliché is true. Don't judge a book by its cover. All he could say is that he was truly grateful that he'd been shown the error of his ways. He got up to get ready for his lesson. Today was going to be a great day.

One and a half hours later, Ianto was knocking on Jack's door.

"Hi, Ianto. Great to see you again." Jack greeted, a warm and sincere smile on his face.

"Hi, Jack. It's great to see you, too." Ianto returned the same smile.

For the first time in those circumstances, both men seemed completely comfortable around each other. The tension that Ianto usually fought so hard to hide was now completely gone.

"So, how's David?" Jack asked.

"Oh, he's doing fine. Still recovering, but he's going to be okay. He was actually trying to convince Rhiannon that he could ride his bike with one hand." They both laughed.

"He sounds a lot like me when I was a kid. Always looking for trouble. And usually finding it." He paused for a while. "I don't think I've changed that much. Huh."

"I suspected as much." Ianto chuckled, walking towards the table they used. He felt weird doing that without the usual weight on his shoulders. The lesson went by a lot easier now. Jack was also a lot more focused, now the he wasn't so distracted flirting with Ianto. The first half of the lesson went by in a flash.

"Okay, who are you and what have you done with Jack Harkness?"

"What? What did I do this time?"

"You're clearly not the same student I had before. You're focused, paying attention, remembering what I say, participating. I'm not complaining, mind, but if someone told me I'm looking at a doppelganger of you, I'd believe them."

"Oh, come on, I wasn't that bad."

Ianto just stared at him, a condemning look on his face.

"Fine." Jack sighed. "I just... well, you deserve better." He paused, thinking for a while. "Plus, it's a lot easier to focus when I'm not concentrating on flirting with you." He finished, looking abashed.

Ianto laughed. "Well, I'm glad. I was honestly worried about you, thinking I'd never be able to help you enough for you to keep your job. I have a lot more confidence now." He grinned.

"I'm really not sure if that's a compliment or not." He sulked. And then paused. "Wait... You worried about me?"

"Of course I did. I'm a tutor, and a good one at that. It's my job to care about my students. Even the annoying ones." He winked.

"Am I really that annoying?"

"No. No, you're not. Not the real you." He was serious now, the joking tone leaving his voice. He looked into Jack's eyes, his own overflowing with fondness.

Jack kept the gaze for a while, and then said, "You know, I'm really glad things changed between us."

"Me, too, Jack. Me, too." There was another small pause. "Okay, back to the lesson now. There's no point in you being all dedicated now, and me not doing my job."

Jack chuckled. "Yes, sir."

The rest of the lesson went by as fast as the first half. Soon Ianto was gathering his materials, getting ready to leave. Jack started talking when they were both getting up.

"So, um, I was thinking... Maybe you'd like to stay for lunch today?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Jack, I can't. I have this standing lunch with my best friend every Saturday. It's pretty much the only time we can see each other. The only reason I stayed last weekend was because she had to cancel."

"Oh, okay." Jack smiled weakly, trying, and failing, to hide the disappointment on his face. "Not a problem. Just thought I'd ask, in case you didn't have any plans."

Ianto felt his heart crack. Not only because he hadn't missed the look on Jack's face, but also because he'd really like to stay.

"I'm really sorry. Maybe another time?"

"Yeah, sure. No worries." Jack led Ianto towards the door. "See you next Saturday?"

"Yeah. Next Saturday. Bye, Jack. Have a nice weekend."

"Yeah, you, too."

Jack walked to the kitchen, crestfallen. He opened the fridge, and eyed all the food he'd bought. It was clearly too much just for him. He sighed. Maybe he could just freeze some of it. He walked back to the living room, suddenly losing his appetite.