And we go! Comments LOVE as always, and they're very very much appreciated!
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood or the characters, they belong to Russel T. Davies (for the moment)
Encounter No. 1: December 1999
When Ianto was sixteen, his oldest brother, Gethan, had opened his own coffee shop in the town centre, something he'd wanted to do since he'd left university. Ianto had helped him look for vacancies for months, finally finding the perfect little place near to where the monthly market set up.
In his spare time over the summer, Ianto helped Gethan to get the place ready to open, painting walls, waiting for deliveries, setting up the machinery. When the new coffee press arrived, Ianto had started to play around with it, as his brother was out on an errand, and he'd created a new blend which Gethan had practically had a heart attack over. After several weeks of pleading and continually rising pay promises, Ianto agreed to work part time in the shop, on Saturday afternoons.
Within a month of opening, the coffee shop was doing great business, something which Gethan always assured him was down to his coffee. Ianto had settled in quickly, and soon got to know all the regular customers; the students from the local college, the people from the more high flying offices in the city and a fair amount of mothers and toddlers, meeting after a visit to the local play park.
It was this reason that made him notice when a man walked in. He'd never seen him before, which immediately interested him, but more than that, he was dressed in clothes that seemed infinitely more suited to a war time military officer, World War Two perhaps. He walked over to the counter, hands in pockets, and ordered himself a coffee.
Ianto just smiled and nodded, even more intrigued that the man was American, writing down the order and moving off to the coffee press to make it. He was vaguely aware of the tall, dark haired man's eyes on him as he worked, but it didn't bother him. Making coffee was second nature to Ianto, so being watched while he worked didn't put him under any duress. After a few minutes, he finished to drink off professionally and slid it towards the man waiting at the pick-up counter.
The man took the mug with a look on his face that suggested he wasn't holding his hopes out on it. Ianto couldn't help but smile at that, and waited silently to have the man's suspicions proved wrong. He started to grin to himself and quickly picked up a dish cloth and started to wipe down the surface to hide it.
"Hey, kid, this is great coffee." Ianto looked up at the man, suppressing a laugh at being called 'kid', but silently pleased that he liked his coffee. It was always nice to hear praise, but something about the made an impression on him.
"Thank you, sir." Ianto hid another smile as the man chuckled to himself over his coffee, turning back to finish wiping down the back surface, where the jars of coffee beans and toppings were.
"What's the name?" The man's voice was full of interest, something which Ianto didn't know how to take. He turned around to look at the man again, his surprise a little too obvious on his face. He heard the sound of the door opening and closing and gauged that he had half a minute before the next customers wanted to order.
"Jones," Feeling a surge of pride over the man's reaction to his coffee made Ianto grin at him as he answered, "Ianto Jones."
With that, Ianto moved over to the ordering counter and took down what the new customers wanted. He finished the orders quickly, as per usual, and took several more before the end of his shift thirty minutes later. He never did find out what happened to the American.