By the time Ianto stepped out of the bathroom, the fight between Jack and John had turned physical. Or should that be between Jotham and Jamal, Ianto thought, stifling a giggle at how their linked names sounded like a cheesy, 1990s pop act. He cocked his head to one side, taking a moment to gaze at the two men naked wrestling, before he quietly and carefully opened the door and snuck out of the room.
TWTWTWTW
"Fuck John," Jack wheezed, frantically trying to dislodge the former time agent from his back, "get off me a minute, will ya."
"Ha," John scoffed, "so you admit it, I win."
"No." Jack screwed his head around to look at him, his brow creasing in confusion, "Come to think of it...what are we fighting about anyway?"
"Pfft," John slapped him hard on the bottom, "you're no fun anymore. What's up?"
"It's Ianto," Jack explained, "he left about five minutes ago."
John's eyes widened. His gaze flicked worriedly from the bed, where he had last seen the Welshman, to the door, before landing back on Jack again. Suddenly he leapt into action. Without pausing to think it through or to put on any pants, he jumped up and made for the exit. He fell flat on his face a moment later, spinning around to see Jack holding on to his ankle.
"What the fuck!" he snapped, "What did you do that for?"
"You can't go out there like that. This is the 21st Century, John. You'd be arrested before you even made it to the lift."
John kicked out hard with his foot, catching the immortal in the chest and causing him to gasp painfully, then he grabbed some clothes off the floor and hurriedly started dressing.
"Hey," Jack yelled, watching as John pulled on a pair of underpants, "They're mine."
"So?"
"So, get them off before I pull them off."
John gave him a withering look and carried on dressing.
"What?" the Immortal quirked an eye-brow, "no innuendo, no sexy come-back. Shit, you're actually serious this time, aren't you?" he sighed and shook his head, "look John, Cmon will ya. Stop a minute. You'll never catch him now. I think he just needs a bit of time, if we push him now, he's gonna back off."
Still wearing Jack's pants and with one leg in and one leg out of his jeans, John hopped the few steps to the bed and collapsed on to it, groaning in frustration.
"'Of course I'm serious," he moaned, "didn't you think I was?"
"I dunno," Jack said gloomily, "I just thought, you'd be like you always are. Promising them everything and then fucking off when it gets too hot. I was trying to protect him."
"Oh yeah, 'cause you've never fucked off in your life, have you Jack. I'm sorry but I love him, more than anything."
"Yeah okay, I get it. When did you first realise?"
"Truthfully?"
Jack nodded.
"From the first moment I stuck a gun in his face."
The immortal chuckled.
"You too, huh?"
"What is it about that guy that makes you want to either kiss him or kill him."
"He's annoyingly Welsh."
"Yeah, that and he's pigheaded and obstinate."
"and stubborn."
"Don't they mean the same thing?"
"Whatever. He 's so uptight. He refuses to kiss me or hold my hand in public."
"He's always going on about clean underwear."
"And he makes me pair my socks before putting them in the laundry."
"He makes me sleep in the wet patch."
"You're lucky. He makes me get up and change the sheets, and sometimes when we make love, he makes me stop and fold my clothes just when I'm getting into it."
"He does that to me too, and he makes me wash my hands when I've been the toilet."
"Ugh, that is disgusting, John. We all do that."
"Oh, er yeah," John coughed, "I meant..." he mumbled something incoherent, "he's got a nice ass though," he went on, changing the subject.
"Oh yeah, he's got a nice ass, nice body all round really."
"And an adorable, little nose."
"Oh," Jack grinned, "I love that nose. The tip is so cute, it turns up by just the right amount."
"Plus he's the most courageous man I know."
"Yeah, and he's loyal. Fiercely loyal
"Definitely, in fact, even after you'd buggered off it took all my Hahn charm to get him into bed."
Jack narrowed his eyes at the other man
"So, you seduced him, then?" he snapped.
"Yeah?" John shook his head, quizzically, "So, what's your point?"
The immortal seemed to think about for a while but then he shrugged.
"Fair enough," he said.
"So...how long do you think Ianto will be?"
"Not sure, why?"
"Just wondering."
"Time enough for..."
"really?"
"Yeah."
"Oh."
"So, what do you say..."
"For old times' sake?" John asked
"For old times' sake," Jack agreed, smirking.
TWTWTWTW
As soon as Ianto stepped out of the hotel lobby he jumped into a taxi, grateful that John had lent him some money that morning. John had called it a gift but hadn't realised that Ianto was keeping a tally. The former time agent had all ready bought him some new clothes, clothes more suitable for the time period than the ones Jack had bought him off planet. And hadn't that shopping trip been fun. Ianto had tried and failed to get John into something other than the red military jacket he'd picked up from fighting in the Napoleonic wars. Not that the Welshman didn't love John's coat almost as much as he loved Jack's. He had a sudden vision of the two men, standing side by side wearing nothing but their iconic outerwear. He was so lost in thought that the taxi driver had to shout twice to let him know they'd reach his destination.
"Oh, sorry," he said, stepping out of the taxi and handing over a couple of tenners, "keep the change."
The driver thanked him and drove off leaving Ianto standing in the road wondering what to do. He watched the house for a while and then, steeling himself he strode purposefully up to the door and rang the bell. The boy that answered the door was so much older than Ianto expected and for a moment the young Welshman was taken aback.
"Hullo, David," he said.
David stood in the doorway, staring at his uncle and not speaking. His mouth hung open.
"Um, is your Mam in?" Ianto asked.
"Who is it David?" a voice called from inside the house, "You look like you've seen a ghost."
Ianto began to wonder if he should have called first. As she opened the door further to peer around David, Rhiannon was still smiling and shaking her head, ready to apologise for her son's odd behaviour. The smile slipped from her face when she saw who was standing there.
"Hello, Rhi," Ianto gave her a sheepish wave.
She stumbled backwards and landed heavily on the bottom step of her stairway. Her hand covered her mouth and a sob escaped her lips. Ianto rushed forward, afraid his sister might be hysterical. He shouted for David to get his mother a glass of water and at that moment, Rhiannon's husband Johnny, alerted by the commotion, came to see what was happening. Spotting his brother in law, his dead brother in law that is, standing in the hallway, Johnny staggered sideways and landed in a heap on top of his wife. Thankfully this brought Rhiannon out of her trance and she yelped loudly, hitting her husband and shouting for him to get off her which drew a girl who Ianto took to be his niece Mica, from the living room. She pointed sulkily at Ianto.
"Who's he?" she demanded.
"That, is your uncle Ianto" Rhiannon uttered, glaring a little, "and he's got a lot of explaining to do."
Ianto gulped.
TWTWTWTWT
Once Rhiannon had calmed down and they were both sitting at her dining room table, sipping coffee, she asked him where he was staying.
"I'm fine. I'm staying with a friend," he replied.
She gave him a pointed look.
"Would that be the same friend who came to see me after you went missing?"
"Oh, Um," Ianto blushed, "not exactly. Although, maybe, sort of."
She shook her head.
"I never did have any idea what was going on with you, did I. But still I thought, you might have told me about your friend," she made quotation marks in the air, "I had to wait until I thought you were dead to find out you're gay."
"I'm not gay," he retorted, "I'm not," he went on cutting off her protest, "It's not men, it's just him, it's only him, well, that is, it's only him and...um, it's complicated."
She gave him an exasperated sigh, shaking her head as she resigned herself to not knowing.
"He's good to you though yeah?"
"Yeah," Ianto smiled, thinking of John, "yeah he's good to me." His eyes filled with tears when he thought of the two men he loved, wondering if he would have been able to answer so assuredly if he'd only been thinking of Jack.
She placed a hand over his on the table.
"He'd better be," she insisted.
TWTWTWTWT
Ianto made it back to the hotel in one piece, though he was fit to bursting with his sister's cheap brand of instant coffee. He stopped off in the men's room in the lobby before taking the lift to his floor and using his key card to let himself in to their suite. He stopped dead in the doorway, shocked rigid by the sight that met him.
"What the..." he yelped.
"Oh hey, Ianto," John grinned, "wanna join us."
"No, I don't. What I want to know," he snarked, "...is where the fuck you got a Twister board from?"
"John was a boy scout," Jack told him.
"Oh okay. That explains it then, obviously. Silly me. But why Twister?" the Welshman asked.
"Why not Twister, it's fun," John laughed, "Jack and I first played it in the 1980's, haven't been able to get enough of the game since then."
"And you're just playing Twister, yeah. Just Twister?" Ianto shook his head, disbelievingly, "and it's not even naked Twister."
John's face lit up.
"Oooh, Naked Twister," he giggled, "Oooh, Jack, how come we've never thought of that?"
Jack looked at Ianto and then at John, his expression matching the former time agent's for wide eyed excitement.
"I dunno," he marvelled, "coz now he's said it, it seems so obvious."
Ianto just sighed.