This little snippet began life as a birthday gift for SirCat. It's grown a bit since then.
Set during Gwen's 'Who was your last snog' game in Countrycide.
"It was Lisa," Ianto announced, effectively killing the game that had already become awkward. At least everyone was uncomfortable now, instead of just Toshiko.
Ianto hadn't felt much of anything through the protective fog he lived in since Lisa died – no, since Lisa was killed. But he felt for Toshiko.
Toshiko was nice. Toshiko was kind. Toshiko hadn't tried to make him talk.
Toshiko's undemanding silence eroded the fog with the gentle persistence of rainwater dripping on a rock.
Toshiko understood that the certainty of saving someone you love far outweighed the mere possibility of destroying the rest of the world. Even when the saving became less certain and the possibility became more than possible.
Ianto could feel compassion for Toshiko. He might even feel fondness for Toshiko, eventually.
And Ianto could feel Jack watching him. Again.
-XXX-
Jack didn't hear the rest of the game. He was lost in the past. Recent, significant, bewildering past. Hearing the sound of what used to be Lisa rampaging through the Hub. Feeling the weight of Ianto lying limp and unresponsive in his arms. Refusing to believe limp and unresponsive meant death. Death wasn't permanent anyway. Jack was proof of that.
He could still feel it, if he tried. The clammy lips beneath his warming with returning life. The intense and unexpected surge of joy as the body in his lap shuddered with the reluctant return of the wandering spirit. He'd done that. Jack Harkness, eternally cursed with life, spreading a little of it around.
Obviously that didn't qualify as a 'snog'. But Jack could fix that. Given time, and Jack had nothing if not time.
-XXX-
Ianto felt the weight of Jack's eyes on him. He didn't want to look up, he tried not to look up, but it didn't work. His head drifted upwards, magnetized by the blue gaze that someone managed to chill and burn at the same time. What he saw there was intriguing and terrifying all at once, and he couldn't meet the gaze for long.
Jack watched the icy blue eyes lock with his own, watched them thaw for such a brief instant that he might have imagined it. Except that he hadn't.
I may not have been your last snog, Jack thought, but I'll be your next.