A/N: Bonsoir! Sorry my lovelies, this one is a little bit 'short and sweet', I haven't been feeling very well today and my brain appears to be functioning at half speed. I promise that there is a (sort of) follow on ch to come in the next few days (probably Wednesday :D). NOW, you might have read this on A Captain and A Gentleman last night but if not..."I'd just like to take this opportunity to say thank you (and I'll be repeating this on my other stories for those of you who only read one or two) all for reading so dedicatedly. For the last few months I have been a bit stupid - I have no idea how I ended up at a grammar school, because I have no common sense and so was completely unaware of 'traffic stats' until today and I have been blown away by it, so thank you very much, I never imagined I would have such a large following and it means so much! Before now I had just thought - well I've got 100 or so people on author alert ect... that's quite a lot - and I supposed that maybe half as many again were reading silently... but I never imagined it to be as many as it is so for the third time this evening THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who has subscribed, commented, or read silently I LOVE YOU ALL!" And I mean it as much as I did yesterday and will do tomorrow :) Hannah xxx
To anyone living outside the realms of Torchwood Cardiff, a film night in with your colleagues sounds like an enjoyable way to wind down on a Friday and one of the easiest social events to organise in the entire world. I mean, yes, there might always be a brief quibbled about what film was to be watched and about what dates and times people could make the event, and perhaps even some disagreement about which snacks and drinks should be provided… of course at Torchwood, you have to factor in other dilemmas: will there be a rift alert right at the pivotal moment in the film? Should we stay in the hub and have our film night there in case of rift activity? Or, will hosting the event at work leave us an able to switch off? Will one of the Weevils decide to break free from their cell? Will Myfanwy catch a cold? There are just so many ridiculous possible complications when trying to organise even the most basic of social activities that I'm surprised we ever do anything besides eat, drink, sleep and work – and in Owen's case merely work. But tonight on this rare occasion we eventually managed to pull things together.
It was eventually decided that after spending the last 36 hours cooped up inside the hub – we'd found a pair of un-cooperating Krillitane who were trying to slowly take over St. Teilo's hospital and had brought them to the hub for questioning… and then Owen attempted using that mind probe again despite our better advice… awful mess, I knew that we shouldn't have used it – we could all use a change of scenery. Gwen offered up her place first, what with hers and Rhys's apartment being the largest out of the four of us and with Jack's home being the hub, but after a telephone call to her dearly beloved it was revealed that he had already made plans with Banana Boat which entailed 'the lads' coming over for a pint, a curry and the Rugby. So I offered up my own apartment.
Up until tonight Jack and Gwen had been the only ones to actually visit my home, and it wasn't that I hadn't wanted either Tosh or Owen to come round, it was merely that with such a demanding job there wasn't often time to play the part of the host. Just after I left University and before I joined Torchwood one in London, I used to have friends over often – most weekends in fact – I'd even host a the occasional party… but I just don't have the time or the energy any more. And what time and energy I do have available, Jack usually sees to it that he takes up most of it. To cut the tale short, it had been a while since I had entertained. Whenever Jack comes over there's never very much effort that goes into planning our exploits, we mostly just go with what strikes us at the time, and when Gwen came over that one awful evening before we set off for the Himalayas I had played the role of the consoler and, strangely enough, brother rather than the entertainer. All of which meant that I was really quite excited.
Jack arrived a little earlier than the others, who all arrived at eight o'clock on the dot - even Owen and Gwen much to my surprise, in order to 'help' me set things up, which was basically Jack's little code for 'I want to watch you cleaning and tidying things and bending over in the process'. He's also confessed before to finding it highly amusing and adorable watching me when I'm on one of my little neurotic cleaning stints… I'm not entirely sure that that's a good thing, but I let him come over early anyway, he always makes for hilarious company.
At the beginning of the evening, things seemed to be running surprisingly smoothly; Jack had adjusted his wrist strap to alert us of any rift activity, but we had yet to hear a peep out of it, and everyone seemed to be pleased with my selection of tortias and salsa and popcorn (naturally, they were not to be eaten al together) and non-work related conversation was flowing freely as we sat evenly spaced across my sofa and arm chairs. But when Toshiko chirped up and asked what film we would be watching, Owen groaned with an almighty passion when I replied saying that I had selected one of my favourite films of all time for us to watch.
"Oh for Christ's sake it had better not be another one of those black and white, silent, culturally enriching jobs that's accidentally going to unleash some travelling nut jobs upon u is it?" He said, voiced imbued heavily with sarcasm.
I rolled my eyes, again questioning mentally why I ever bother trying to enrich our group. "No Owen, it's a James Bond" I stated matter of factly; of course it was going to be a James Bond!
Toshiko at least seemed excited, "Oooh I've never seen a James Bond!" She exclaimed. I was happy that she was eagerly awaiting the movie, but honestly, who hasn't seen a James Bond film? It's practically against the law to be British and not have seen a Bond film!
However my revelation sparked an almost exactly opposite response in Owen, arousing his dissatisfaction further, "Uuurgh I never have been a fan of Bond films…Which one is it?"
"The best: Diamonds are Forever" I replied with a grin, flashing the DVD box as I went to insert it into the player.
Owen just sighed, "I suppose that's not the worst one…"
For then I accepted that answer as a sort of compromise and flopped relatively ungracefully by my standards, back down into my seat in between him and Jack on the sofa, Jack quickly settled himself around me; first looping his arm around my waist and then lifting up his legs and laying them across my lap, it really was quite a comfortable position.
"Oh Jesus; I don't think I could even put up with the best film in the world if you two are going to sit through it like that" He gestured towards Jack's legs and then to his mouth which with which he was trying (and failing) to surreptitiously plant kisses on my neck. "It's sickening, happy people in happy relationships! And bloody James Bond to top it all off!" he moaned.
"Sorry Owen, I just couldn't get a hold of a copy of About a Boy" I couldn't resist biting back, I saw the smirk on Jack's face out of the corner of my eye, but refused to break my own
"Oh be quiet teaboy…"
"About a Boy what?" Gwen asked incredulously.
He sighed, he hadn't used teaboy in a while… must have struck a nerve there "On second thoughts, Diamonds are forever really is a good film – you'll like this one Tosh." Owen said quickly. I just grinned and I could feel Jack smirking next to me.
Foolishly, I had hoped that we might have been able to sit through the film undisturbed and watch the wonders of Sean Connery and Jill St. John et al, without an unwanted commentary from Owen, or anyone else that matter. But just twenty minutes in, Jack was confused with the plot because he 'had been too easily distracted by the gorgeous man sat next to him to look at the screen for an extended period of time' (his words, not mine obviously), Gwen and Tosh seemed to be enjoying themselves, but Owen had begun to grumble.
"It's just the same bloody plot each time but changed slightly! And this one hasn't even got Ursula Andress in it, she's about the only reason I'd choose to see a Bond film…"
I paused the film then, "Owen could you please try and just watch it!" I said, exasperatedly.
"Sorry!" He said, sounding quite the opposite of apologetic. "Why are we even watching this anyway? I bet it's just because you've got some crush on Sean Connery" He said to me.
Of course, that's highly untrue, I've never found another man – other than the obvious one – attractive and Sean Connery is no exception to that, it's more likely that I would fancy Jill or Tiffany than Sean Connery!
But instead of simply denying his allegations, I decide to use my high quality black mail material for the second time this evening. "Well, it's better than fancying Hugh Grant" I said whispered, just loud enough for the three of us to hear, and shrugged, feeling Jack's gentle laughter vibrate against my back. Owen just glared at me with a face like thunder and then to Jack with whom he was also angry with for confessing his deadly embarrassing secret to me in the first place, the two girls just looked towards us with a shared expression of confusion gracing their faces.
Jack decided to sidestep my response and go in for arguing against Owen's earlier suggestion, "Sadly for Sean Connery's sake, I am the only man for one Jones, Ianto Jones. There's just no one else charismatic and hunky enough out there" He grinned as I rolled my eyes jokily (because deep down I think the entire body of that room knew that he was right), and allowed him to move in for a full on possessive, breath taking kiss, right there next to Owen on the sofa and in front of everyone; I thing I certainly wouldn't have been able to cope with this time a year ago.
He pulled back as we could hear Owen miming vomit actions. "Oh and just out of interest Ianto…" Jack started. "I wouldn't actually mind knowing why you like James Bond so much?"
I smiled; I had been waiting almost two years for him to ask that question, since that very first day that I had introduced myself. There are many possible answers to that question, the gorgeous Bond girls, the thrilling sense of action, the terrifically horrific villains and the guns… but for me there is only really one answer: "Cars." I replied. "I love the cars."
"Oh really?" Jack said with a hint of wickedness, raising an eyebrow, and looking almost as if he were storing away this piece of trivia for later reference.
"Yes" I answered. "And now that that's settled, can we please just watch the film uninterrupted?"
And miraculously we did, I think Owen must have twigged that if he even dared utter a single other word during the showing, then he was in danger of having his guilty Hugh Grant obsession outed fully. Once the film as over we chatted about nothing in particular: music; relationships; Weevils; the ever increasing price of petrol etc. for what seemed like only a brief while, but for actually several hours and eventually everyone left (disregarding Jack) at just gone one thirty, all complaining about having to get up early for work in the morning.
And then it was just Jack and I left. Naturally I began tidying up the bowls and the plates and the glasses that had been used throughout the evenings activities, and clearing up the popcorn spills which had inevitably occurred, and for a while Jack had been watching as he had done earlier. But after ten minutes or so he seemed to slope off somewhere, without me really noticing at first, returning a short while later to frame the door way between the living room and my (our?) bedroom, sporting a very 'pleased with himself' expression and an absolutely bare body, naked as the day he was born, wearing only a black bow tie – my black bow tie I might add.
I raised an eyebrow at this sudden turn of events, struggling to keeps my eyes up.
"Jones, Ianto Jones. How would you like to be shaken and not stirred?" He asked almost purring in a ridiculously seductive tone.
"That doesn't even make sense" I said, struggling to maintain rational thought and tying even harder to keep my resolve and stop my eyes from wandering.
"Perhaps not… BUT you get my point don't you… if you'd like to follow me through to the boudoir I can elaborate" He said walking away and still talking in the same mind addling tone.
I just couldn't resist a cheeky glance at his behind as he loped towards the bedroom.
"Stop staring at my ass!" He exclaimed in his normal brash and enthusiastic every day voice, which was such a sudden and stark contrast to his seductive tones that we both collapsed into a fit of giggles as I entered the 'boudoir'.