Ianto carefully made his way up the steps to the conference room, trying to see his feet around the box of take out bags. The hub rolled gently under him, and he didn't trust his sense of balance at the moment. He stopped at the door, focusing on it's handle as the world dimmed and brightened. This was the fourth time in as many days and it was starting to get annoying. It felt almost, but not quite, like having a concussion and the flu at the same time.
As he tried to figure out exactly how he was supposed to turn the handle with two armfuls of food, he closed his eyes, waiting for the dizzy spell to pass. It always did. There a Mountain Dew buried amongst the chicken fried rice and pepper steaks. That would help.
Ianto blinked, and the handle came in to focus. He tried to shift his burden to free one arm, and cursed as the box started to slide. He settled for giving the bottom of the door a sharp kick with his foot, smiling gratefully as Tosh opened the door for him.
The rest of the team was already seated, staring at the food expectantly. Had they silverware they would probably be banging it on the table. Jack moaned appreciatively as the smell of Chinese filled the room
"Feeding time at the zoo." Ianto said cheerfully, setting down the box, and dodging a swat from the captain.
He didn't bother to check the receipt, Gwen had ordered out, calling the tourist office to warn Ianto just as the door buzzed, but she would have ordered "the usual". He sorted out the Styrofoam boxes, placing them in front of each team member. They were starting to become predictable. General Tso's for Tosh. Chicken fried rice for both Gwen and Owen. Pepper steak, and all of the fortune cookies for Jack. Which left veggie spring rolls and rice for him.
The others resumed their casual lunchtime conversations as they dug in.
Ianto sat down gratefully, just in time to avoid another dizzy spell, and opened his own box. Rice. And…chicken. He wrinkled his nose slightly, and glanced at the paper taped to the box. 1 Pepper Steak, 3 Chicken fried rice, 1 General Tso's. Gwen must have ordered wrong. Perfectly understandable of course. It's not like they ever ordered Chinese before, not like they all ate the same meals every time. Ianto bit back his irritation, knowing it was a side effect of...whatever was wrong.
He tapped his chopsticks absently against the container. He hadn't eaten meat since Breacon Beacons. He had always been plagued with a vivid imagination, and even now he was picturing some unwashed savage from the countryside chasing a chicken around the conference table with a baseball bat and cleaver.
Ianto's stomach grumbled though not put off in the slightest by the image and Ianto sighed, tucking a paper napkin into his collar. He began to carefully sort through the plate, piling up pieces of chicken and egg on the container's lid. Of course, the rice had been touching the chicken, soaking up juices. Ianto tried not to think about it.
He was so intent on ridding his plate of any trace of meat that it took him a minute to realize the conference room was silent. He looked up, and blinked at four sets of eyes, watching intently. "What?"
"Picky eater?" Owen asked, with a raised eyebrow and a snort. "I don't think I've seen anyone over six do that."
"I'm a vegetarian." Ianto answered, busying himself with opening his Mountain Dew and pouring it in a glass. He still felt the itch of eyes on him
"Since when?" Owen spoke around a mouthful of rice.
"Since someone with authority in the matter told me that I'd taste just like chicken if I was boiled long enough." He picked up a piece of the white meat to illustrate his point, and with a graceful flick of his chopsticks sent it across the table to land in Owen's plate. He smiled slightly at Owen's shocked face. It wasn't every day the prim and proper Teaboy flung food about.
"The restaurant must have given me the wrong plate." Ianto continued, finally scooping up a small ball of rice. "It's okay. I can just eat around the meat."
Owen speared the piece of chicken with a shrug, popping it in his mouth. "Mind if I-?" he waved a fork at the pile of chicken, and Ianto pushed the container lid toward the other man. It was intercepted by Jack.
"Hey!" Owen protested
"Captain's Privileges." Jack said with a smirk, raking half of the meat into his own plate before passing the rest.
Conversation soon resumed. Ianto listened, adding a comment or laugh occasionally, gently steering talk back to safe subjects when Jack's stories got to outrageous.
Ianto was clearing away the empty containers, and Jack was redistributing the fortune cookies, the man insisted on personally matching up each wrapped cookie with a particular teammate, when Jack's wrist started beeping wildly.
Jack threw the last cookie to Ianto, before consulting the band. Ianto cracked it open, and pulled out the slip of paper. "Good food brings health and longevity." That wasn't even a real fortune. Ianto felt a little let down, what had happened to a little bit of prophecy? Shouldn't a fortune foretell something?
"3 Weevils on the loose. Ianto! I want you with us."
Ianto didn't question. Jack had been bringing him out on some of the more mundane missions. He wondered if it had anything to do with the office pool. There were bets on how many ruined suits it would take before he finally snapped and showed up to work in jeans. Ianto had tried to bet on '42' but Gwen said it was against the rules to bet on himself.
"Ianto!" Jack yelled, already halfway down the stairs.
Ianto shook his head, clearing away the darkness that had been building up near the corners of his eyes. "Coming!" he called, stifling a sudden yawn as he tucked his fortune cookie into his jacket pocket, following the rest of Torchwood Three to the garage.