Dalek_Chicken: Glad you like it!
hotflower901: I'm all for threesomes but not in this case. The whole idea comes from Ianto falling for Jack... what if it was harder to accept his feelings without all the alienness?
AdoreThem: Yeah, Jack is going to be very (did someone say) Camp and effeminate in this. In order for it to work... Jack has to be a queen. :]
wytygr: That little slip was inspired by smitten/romantic people everywhere. It's all very cliche but it happens to all of us.
JantoForever21: Thanks!
seether79: Glad you liked the start, here's hoping you like the rest of it.
Poisoned-Thorns: Thank you! I have a pretty bizarre and random mind which makes some ideas original. I tend to write what I'd like to read ;]
TheWeddingFairy: I will! I'm fairly irregular with posts.
CydneyElyse: He heard it but whether he took it on board is another matter. You know what those menfolk are like! ;]
Authors/Note: You guys may or may not know that I'm a happily out Bi woman. This story is going to be based widely on stereotypes of the macho rugby player and the girly queen. I'm going to set those stereotypes out then throw them out the window! Luckily for me I have a very supportive family and my coming out was fairly comical... my sister announced that she was bi as well and didn't know how to tell me. I just burst out laughing and said guess what? So am I! Anyway... sometimes coming out to family/friends... hell even yourself is very difficult and that's what it's going to be like for Ianto. He's going to go through a big rollercoaster of emotions as he comes to terms with his attraction towards Jack and his eventual acceptance. Don't worry he'll get there in the end! Keep reading and reviewing and I'm glad to all those who've left feedback and even the ones who didn't and just lurked, thanks everyone! Oh and before I forget I'm slowly making more progress with Earthboys Are Easy. It might be a while before there's another part but I'm passed the block on that and it's crawling back up to the pace of some of my other stuff so watch out for that! Thanks! Enjoy!
Chapter Two
It was all wrong. So very, very wrong and he was a very bad man. He couldn't help but think of how he was going to end up in hell, he'd never done anything like before and he'd always thought that cheating was disgusting. But you haven't done anything yet, his mind reasoned with him, you're not going to do anything! You're just friends! Yeah right, Ianto shook his head, if it was just friends why had he failed to mention to Rhys about the lad's night out? And why the hell was he planning on telling Jack that Rhys hadn't been about to make it because it was too short notice? Oh yeah, I'm so going to hell, he thought.
Then he saw him. God he's gorgeous, his mind screamed as he stood up and nervously looked at Jack suddenly unsure what to do. Should he shake hands with the man? Hug him? Was it too soon after only meeting him? Well, after you'd gotten sufficiently drunk with someone it didn't really matter how many times you'd met before.
"Hey"
"Hey" Jack smiled, almost lighting the room up when he saw Ianto standing there in a fairly tight shirt and tight jeans. They stared at each other longingly before Jack noticed that Rhys was no where in sight "Where's Rhys?"
"Oh he couldn't make it. There was a problem at work..." lied Ianto biting his lip as he sat down, Jack sat down opposite him and they sat there for a moment before Ianto sighed "Actually, Rhys doesn't know about this... I sorta forgot to mention it to him. I thought it'd be good if we could get to know each other since my girlfriend is friends with your friends and well.."
"It's okay. I think it'd be good too. So um, what are you drinking?"
"Carlsberg... here" he handed him a tenner, their fingers brushed as the money swapped hands "I'll get this round and you get the next?"
"Sure" he nodded and went off to get the drinks. He came back carefully carrying Ianto's pint while he carried two bottles of fruity blue liquid. Ianto quirked a brow in surprise "What?"
"They're girly drinks"
"Well if you hadn't already noticed I'm probably about as girly as you can get without actually have tits and a vagina" he replied at the very same moment Ianto took a sip of his beer and choked on it "Shit, are you okay?"
"I'm fine" Ianto croaked as he wiped spilt beer off his face. Jack just stared at the welshman as he wiped his mouth and licked his lips, watching that tongue peek out lapping up the excess liquid
"Oh God" gasped Jack before realising that 1, he was staring and 2 he'd spoken aloud.
"What? Do I have something on my face?" inquired Ianto looking down to check he hadn't spilt any beer on his jeans
"No... um sorry. So... rugby, does it pay well?"
"Nowhere near as good as the professional footballers get but yeah it pays well enough to keep me afloat and whenever major games come around there's always a good chance I get picked to play away. What about you... you're a writer aren't you?" he asked before bringing his glass to his mouth
"I'm a polyglot" Jack announced which had Ianto choking on his drink once more from surprise
"You're a what?"
"A linguist. I am fluent in several languages, even a few obscure ones so I write about them. I write about each language and how it originated and evolved
"Wow, that sounds very technical..." he sat back and they fell into comfortable silence staring at each other. Ianto couldn't wipe the smile off his face despite how nervous he felt "Does it pay well"
"Yeah, I sell a lot of copies and since I don't have anyone to look after I can spend my money how I choose. Like buying the next round" he grinned "So, how long have you and Tosh?"
"Not long... a few months. I like her and she's fun to be around but... I dunno"
"Just not your thing?"
"I'm only twenty four, I don't even know what my thing is!" he replied then blushed at what he'd just admitted
"You're young. It means you have time to figure it out"
"Yeah" he mumbled looking away, he downed his pint before slamming the glass down on the little table. Ianto stared at the spare drink Jack had yet to drink until he leaned forward grabbing it up and bringing it to his lips "Can I taste?"
"Sure" breathed Jack, Ianto cursed him; gorgeous bastard! How can he be so at ease when my heart is pounding?! I don't even like men, Ianto roared internally! He brought the bottle to his lips and took a sip "How does it taste?"
"It tastes fruity" stated Ianto staring at the drink "I don't know what I was expecting. There is a bit of kick to it"
"Well it is vodka... it's cheap and has enough of a percentage to make things interesting" smirked the writer, Ianto put the drink down and pushed it so it slid across the table closer to it's original owner
"And you like things interesting?" he couldn't help but ask, every word felt dangerous with their double meanings
"Interesting things have their moments" Jack licked his lips seductively and Ianto did his best not to groan "When are we headed to the next bar?"
"Whenever you want" sighed the younger man, he suddenly felt like this was one big mistake and he'd wandered through the looking glass
"You could always come back to mine?" Jack threw it out there and instantly regretted when Ianto's eyes widened. The poor boy looked like a frightened animal as he stood up sharply grabbing his jacket
"I... this shouldn't... I mean I... oh god" he stammered "I need to go"
Jack jumped to his feet grabbing Ianto's arm stopping him from leaving, he really didn't want him to go
"Don't go" he begged "Please, I'm sorry"
"I can't..." whispered Ianto, they were so close, their noses brushed... if Jack had enough courage he would have tipped the other man's chin and kissed him like he deserved to be kissed. But he didn't and Ianto pulled away leaving him standing there alone feeling utterly hopeless.
Jack sighed, he finished off his drinks then left heading home cursing himself for blowing something that could have been really good. While he was sure that Ianto felt an attraction to him he had a feeling that the native welshman wouldn't do anything because he was under the pretence that he was 'straight'. He didn't want to hurt Ianto's feelings or insinuate that he was anything but a tough hetero male and the last thing Jack wanted was to force his orientation on him... but the thing was you didn't ask a guy out for drinks like that; he'd never been straight but he was pretty sure that that wasn't the done thing.
It wasn't that late when he got home but he didn't feel like going out again; he was tired and he'd worked hard that day... maybe he'd call Gwen and see how she was doing? No, he couldn't do that, she was probably having a nice night in with Rhys.
In the end Jack decided to head to bed with a good book and he wondered how boring his life had gotten. He lay in bed angry that he felt so lonely all of a sudden, he'd never had this problem before he laid eyes on Ianto. Jack had always been so sure of himself, he could make friends with anyone and he'd always been fairly lucky on the dating side of things; no, this is began when he met Ianto. It was that man that was the problem, not him, if he stayed away from him then he didn't have to second guess everything and all his sudden insecurities would go away! Jack lay awake for most of the night trying to think of someone or something other than Ianto frigging Jones.
*
Ianto didn't sleep a wink that night... he couldn't. He was so ashamed of what he felt and how close he'd come to betraying Toshiko. So in the end he got himself a large crate of beer and took it home where he could drink himself silly, yes it was wrong and yes he didn't care. All he wanted was to shut his brain off from all the confusion.
Sitting in the near darkness he downed a can before tossing it aside so he could open another; what the hell was happening to me, he wondered. All this time he'd dated and had girlfriends and been so sure that he was straight! It was Jack. Jack was the problem! Ianto snatched up another can, his third, and downed it with ease; as long as he stayed away from Jack then he'd be okay. He could go back to normal and get on with his life! Another can. He'd marry Tosh and they'd have kids and once he retired from rugby he'd become a manager or something and have a long wonderful career! There would be no more of this gay business!
In his growing drunken stupor he failed to realise that life just didn't work like that and he was in way over his head already.
The next morning he was still drunk and missed training at the club because he was too out of it to drive.
*
It was several days before Jack and Ianto saw it each other; they'd both been kidding themselves that everything had gone back to normal so when they saw each other at the supermarket it threw them.
"Hey" Jack greeted him nervously
"Hey" he couldn't help but smile back when he heard Jack's nervous tone "How've you been?"
"I'm-I've been good. You?"
"Yeah" nodded Ianto, he bit his lip unsure of what to do or say. Jack looked like he was about to move on with his trolley but Ianto took a breath for courage before getting the Americna's attention "I'm sorry!"
Jack blinked in surprise, he'd been pretty sure that Ianto was giving him the brush off again and if that was so then he wasn't going to stand around like some love sick idiot
"Excuse me?"
"For the other night. I shouldn't have took off like that especially after asking you out... I just..."
"It's okay. Apology accepted, friends?" he suggested making Ianto grin from ear to ear
"Friends" he agreed then held out his hand. Jack reached out their fingers touching briefly before their hands slid together to shake.
"Do you want to... I dunno, there's a pretty big rugby ugame on tonight... New Zealand's playing. Want to come round and watch it with me?"
"Oh I dunno..."
"Okay" Jack shrugged it off pretending that it didn't hurt. Ianto shook his head because of the misunderstanding
"Let me finish. I was going to get together with all the guys from the team to watch it, but it'll be loud and noisy and I think, I'd rather... y'know... watch it with you. I mean to make up for the other night" rambled Ianto "I could bring drinks and you could get snacks and we could watch it. Together" Oh god, his mind yelled at him, did you really just say 'together'?
"I'd like that"
"Great! I'll see you then" said Ianto; to hell with his idea of ignoring Jack. The man made him feel all giddy inside and he was beginning to like it!
*
Toshiko stepped into the large computer superstore and sucked in a sharp breath of the atmosphere; this was her world and she loved it more than anything! Ianto didn't understand her desire for hardware and although he was very impressed that she could take apart a computer and improve it once she put it back together he didn't understand why she did it. Sometimes it felt like no one understood her when it came to computers and technology, she just wished that one day she'd be appreciated for her skills.
She grabbed a trolley and went perusing the aisles, she needed more wires because she was going to try and connect all her computers up to run maintenance on them. The old wire she had had gone missing.
Out of the corner of her eye, Tosh spotted a rather young man smartly dressed in the superstores' uniform watching her; she couldn't help but smike as she realised what he was doing. He was casing her thinking that she was some dumb computer shy woman, big mistake pal, she thought then she decided to have some fun. She picked up two different fire wires and looked over the specs listed on the front pretending to be confused by them all and then he pounced.
"Can I help you?"
"I have no idea what I'm doing, my boyfriend wanted me to get a wire and I don't know which is which!" she explained; if she weren't so good with computers she should have gone into acting.
"Do you know what kind of computer your boyfriend has? What does he need the wire for?"
"I don't know and he has a blue computer with one of those apple things on them. A mike I think they're called" she told him wondering how on earth she was managing to keep a straight face. Over the salesman's shoulder that she recognised John Hart from her university days and he recognised her; he seemed to have caught on to what she was doing and he winked at her
"Do you mean a Mac?" the salesman suggested, she nodded enthusiastically
"Yeah that's the one!" she couldn't help but grin and John did his best to hide his laughter
"Right, well if he wants to connect his computer to a TV he'll need this wire. If he wants to connect it to another terminal or a scanner or printer he'll need this one"
"Thank you so much" she replied then she got serious putting the offered wires back "Now I'd like to talk to the floor manager" he seemed surprised by her request but he went and fetched the manager. John Hart took the time to come over to her
"Long time no see little princess" he pulled her into a hug which she happily returned
"Hello John, how are you?"
"I'm good. That was really entertaining to watch... you do realise that kid is going to piss himself when he realises who you are and the extent of your expertise"
"Eh he had it coming" she replied "So, how's work? You went into the army didn't you?"
"Yeah, communications. I'm still a great big geek and they all treat me like one"
"Oh tell me about it!" she rolled her eyes playfully then she saw the salesman coming back with the manager in tow. Russell West's eyes lit up when he saw her, he'd been the manager of this store for five years and she was their best and most valued customer. She'd always come to him when she needed supplies for the University or for extra projects
"Miss Sato!" he greeted her "What can I do for you today?"
"I'm having an overhaul. I'm running maintenance on all the computers I have and I need cables to connect them together. I think some of my students have been using the stations at the University to try and hack into my home base to change his grades; the fool"
"Ah I see. Those cables are further down the aisle, I'll get Tommy to take you. Tommy, she's to have the 10% discount for top customers" he told the salesman who was now very pale. As soon as he'd mentioned her name poor Tommy had known instantly who she was.
"Um yes sir" he nodded then led Toshiko, and John, down the ailse to where the wires she needed were before scurrying off to hide in embarrassment.
"It's good seeing you again, princess, but I'd like to see more of you. I'm on leave for the next six months while I'm going over my training and I wouldn't mind spending some of those six months with you"
"Forward as ever aren't you, Vera?" Tosh couldn't help but chuckle, he shrugged his shoulders offering her that same old flirty smile
"I do only have six months leave, I'd rather not waste time. Not with you" he confessed
"I'd like that but only as friends. I have a boyfriend"
"That's nice" he answered her flippantly "I'm sure he's a very nice guy. But does he know why you prefer computer maintenance in your underwear? Do you still do that?"
"Do you?" she countered thinking back to all the projects they worked on together and the times they worked in their underwear; it was an old joke from a comic about 'overheating'.
"Yep, I usually get told off for stripping off. So I take it he doesn't get it, I bet he's never even heard of the joke? Meet me tomorrow for lunch, we can catch up"
"Maybe"
"I'm hacking into your phone to get your number as we speak" he joked as he pulled out his phone. She exchanged numbers with him; John had always been a good friend while she was at Uni but she never understood why they didn't have a physical relationship. There attraction had been there just never acted upon
"I'll see you tomorrow" she agreed finally
"Great, and you can tell me how the overhaul went" he leaned down pressing a kiss to her cheek before he wandered off to get what he came in for.
TBC...