This is just a fluffy snippet that wanted to be written. A 'second date' story.
(Sorry if you were expecting the conclusion to the last two chapters. It is nearly finished but proving quite stubborn. Muses are flighty things.)
Hope you enjoy!
"Plenty of room in the back row," Jack whispered. More like a stage whisper, Ianto considered, given the resulting outbreak of giggles from the huddle of teenage girls clustered mid-cinema.
Ianto delivered the obligatory eye-roll, but he didn't mind really. Jack's behavior on their first date had been almost disturbingly chivalrous, so it was something of a relief to see him revert to type.
Ianto was used to being the one holding coats and doors, the one reaching for the bill before his date had a chance to make even a token protest. Having all that and more aimed at him instead of by him was just a smidgen unsettling, even if it had Ianto battling whole flocks of butterflies in his gut at the effort Jack was making to impress. As though he needed to. As though he wanted to.
They settled down midway along the row, shed coats into unoccupied seats, sorted out popcorn and watered-down colas within reach, and then proceeded to exchange conspiratorial grins when Jack extracted both of their mobile phones and pointedly powered them down.
Tosh could find them anyway, of course, but it was the type of gesture that recalled the butterflies of the first date. Ianto hoped this was a good movie, because there was a distinct possibility he'd actually be watching it all the way through.
"Hey," Jack announced, once more in that carrying stage whisper. "The arms on these chairs fold back, look! It's practically sleeper-seating!"
Then again, maybe not. Ianto held the bucket of popcorn and both plastic drink cups with heated cheeks and resignation while Jack gleefully cleared not just one armrest, but several. The giggling from the girls several rows in front of them reached a new peak, punctuated by wide-eyed backward glances.
Ianto wasn't sure whether to sink down as low as possible or join in the laughter. He settled for sitting back and dealing with the odd tightness in his chest when Jack stretched out along the space he'd made and …..lay his head on Ianto's shoulder.
"OK?" he murmured, sending a puff of air along Ianto's collar bones.
Ianto pondered his decision not to wear a tie tonight, concluded it had been a good choice, and cleared his throat. "Yeah," he agreed. The position Jack had chosen meant that Ianto's left arm and Jack's right were pretty much pinned to the back of the seat by Jack's body. It left one hand free, sure, but the whole thing announced more loudly than words that it was snuggling on the agenda rather than groping.
It kind of made Ianto's head spin. Just a bit. In a good way.
The movie started. The giggles quieted as the girls became engrossed in the action in front of them rather than behind. Ianto glanced down at one point – planning to exchange a pained smile at the blatant astronomical inaccuracy enacted on the screen- and forget what he'd intended to say at the sight of Jack staring at his face instead of the movie.
"What?" Ianto demanded, in a proper whisper, one that wouldn't carry. Heads didn't turn.
Except Jack's, which swiveled hurriedly towards the screen. "Nothing," he muttered. "Just looking. Do you reckon they had a science advisor at all, or just made it up as they went along?"
Ianto wiped the salt from the popcorn off onto his jeans and gently grasped Jack's chin, turning it back towards him. "Looking at what?" he persisted quietly. "What's wrong, Jack?"
Jack squirmed. "You'll laugh," he warned.
Ianto's grip didn't change. There was the muted sound of a foot tapping on carpet.
Jack sighed. "It was…..I just…..when I was away…..there were times when I thought I'd never see you again," he explained, in a low tone that showed he really did know how to stop his voice from carrying.
Jack's lips were right there, closed into a stubborn line, so Ianto kissed them. Softly, sweetly, strictly in line with the tone of the evening, not even delving deeply enough to get past the taste of butter and salt.
When they settled back to watch the movie, Ianto had an arm wrapped around Jack's shoulder, twining beneath his elbow with his hand coming to rest somewhere on Jack's ribs. Snuggling was definitely on the agenda tonight, and Ianto found he didn't give a damn whether it progressed further. Who cared, really? They'd done that. This was new territory. And that, if they ever got back to it, would be freshly uncharted just by virtue of approaching from a different direction.
Oddly, alarmingly, Ianto felt as though he might cry any second.
"Jack?" he whispered, around the lump in this throat.
"Hmmm?"
"I'm glad you came back for me."
Jack's head twisted, Ianto felt a lightning-swift brush of lips across his neck. "So am I."
Thank you for reading.