A/N I have literally no excuse except of my laziness and lack of muse. It doesn't help that now I'm just telling a story with no mystery in it! (Which would continue for a couple more chapters but then,oh, then!) Anyway, I'll stop scaring you now, go on, read and enjoy ^.^

Peace Offerings

The room was unusually noisy, with everyone yelling and pointing and generally being a pain in Ianto's butt. Not that he minded, though. Things had been going so much better since Jack's return. Sometimes, the mere reminder that someone could tell his lover his most treasured secret made his blood run cold but no one seemed to care or if they did, they were going to reveal it in the most obscene way, making Jack detest him. Forever.

But for now, everything was good, they hadn't tried anything yet. They hadn't even talked to him, the first time Ianto asked what did they want for lunch, stupid him, to think they had gone over the idea of him being a walking corpse just after a little yelling, they all pointedly ignored him. He learned after that. Not to ask.

Ianto opened the door, the pizza hot in his hands, and the noise subsided. All heads, except of one, turned to the large map they had on the table , all sharing the same desire to get rid of it. Even if it was just an excuse not to look at the Welshman. And Ianto... well, he was almost proud to say that he didn't even flinch when Owen deliberately looked the other way when he placed the fork and the knife in front of him.

"You okay, love?" Jack, who had been staring at him the whole time, whispered when the Welshman reached across him.

Ianto nodded, a little jerky move of his head that couldn't express the way his heart had fluttered and stilled, the way his breath had caught in his throat. He could say so much, show so much. Instead, he did the only thing he knew he was good at. He smiled. Wide and bright and perfect and so, so fake.

"Yes, sir."

He felt like the little geeky boy who was dating the school's most popular boy and loving it, loving the fact that he had someone loving him. And being so afraid to show it, not because of himself but because this one deserved so much better. Could get so much better. So handsome and funny and clever and brave while Iant...

Perfect didn't exist but if it did it would never be connected to the name Ianto Jones.

"Are you sure?" Jack insisted, grasping his wrist and squeezing softly.

It only managed to make Ianto's heart break a little more and his smile- to widen.

"Careful, sir, that's harassment," he replied teasingly and the other man's face broke into a smile.

"Then don't temp me with that beautiful body of yours, Jones."

Just like that the moment was over, Jack got back to his pizza and the merry but just a tad tense under the surface conversation the others had started.

And Ianto realized this might have been his only chance to open up. Not that he minded, though. The room turned noisy, with everyone yelling and pointing and generally being a pain in Ianto's butt. He liked it that way.

The silence was worse.

The first one to crack was Tosh.

Yet again he had stayed late to clean the Hub; really, just an excuse not to face them again and to avoid unnecessary questions from Jack. The man was starting to pick up his moods far too often and better than he was comfortable- bringing him tea and holding him for hours, no words, just his comforting warmth.

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw her. She was walking slowly, head bowed down and for one horrifying moment he thought that was the new way of ignoring him. Not simply pretending he wasn't there but avoiding to look at him, as well. His breath hitched, he couldn't believe they were so...

"Does it hurt?" a small voice asked on his right side. Wide-eyed, he turned toward the source and sure enough he wasn't hallucinating. That was Tosh, the girl that flinched when he touched her while he was handing her her coffee, talking to him.

He wondered briefly what to say. He couldn't honestly reveal the truth, that every time his heart stopped beating he felt it, the way it slowed down and finally ceased any movement. He couldn't tell her that he had drowned himself, hurt himself so badly he had thought he would never come back; how he had felt, taking a shining knife and sliding it over his neck.

Ianto didn't need pity. He also didn't want any more lies.

"Some times are better than others."

The silence that fell was thick and heavy, disturbed only by their breathing. Ianto continued wiping the table, he had so much to say, like, "See, I'm breathing, I'm human." and "I hate you" and "I miss you". So instead he said nothing.

A thin arm wrapped around his own and his heart stumbled.

"I'm sorry. You were never fake, you were never... inhuman. It took me so long to realize it and with all my heart I hope you forgive me."

He could ignore her, he realized that. The excuse was nothing compared to the way she, a person he had considered a friend, had treated him. He could turn away, walk into his dark office, grab his coat and disappear into the night. Hurt her the way she had.

But her body was so soft in his arms and the wetness that touched his chest... all proof she had been sincere. And maybe, just maybe, there had been wetness in his eyes too.

It was so much easier after that. He had someone to talk to, someone who knew all his secrets and accepted him, who wasn't ashamed and never hid their renewed friendship. Oh, the look on Gwen's face the first time Tosh had hugged him in front of her. Ianto could pay to see it again, over and over again.

Jack, too, changed. He wasn't so clingy anymore, he lost that so badly hidden hurt in his eyes every time he gazed at Ianto. But he didn't stop snuggling him and taking him to expensive restaurants and watching the Welshman's favourite movies even thought he claimed he had enjoyed dying from starvation more.

A little too late, but not never so it wasn't that hopeless, Ianto realized it was Jack's way of courting him. Sure, it was a little out-dated, and maybe all their dinners in expensive restaurants always ended with the phrase "Shit, toclafanes!" but it was... nice.

It had nothing to do with the way the other Jack had acted when they started dating, there was gentleness, yes, but it was Jack's way. His current... lover... wasn't a cavalier, he didn't open doors in front of Ianto nor did he move his chair. He teased and flirted, only with the Welshman, though, which was a miracle by itself. He slapped his butt when they crossed paths in the Hub and held his hand on the street. And Ianto couldn't say he minded.

"Look, mate, I'm sorry."

It happened just a day after they, meaning everyone in Torchwood and that unfortunately included Ianto, too, had sat down and discussed a strategy how to bring the Master down. Don't get him wrong, the Welshman loved to hear all their stupid plans that revolved and contained just the simple "we go in the Valiant and kill him." But being in the same room with two people glaring at him the whole day? Not his idea of fun. Well, only Gwen really threw him angry glances. Owen was extremely quiet and instead didn't even look at him.

And now he was standing before him, a poor excuse of a coffee in his hands that he was handing him as a some sort of peace offering.

A pretty lame peace offering. Ianto rolled his eyes and stepped around the medic. That wasn't the same as Tosh's apology, it sounded flat and dull and he couldn't really believe Owen would be that mean to pretend he was sorry before spilling the coffee on the Welshman's suit.

Not that it happened. Owen just let him go.

"Here." The doctor handed him the report from the last alien he had examined, the one they had found dead in the sewage. It had been there for so long, Ianto realized. Not that he was surprised, though. Aliens came rarer and rarer now since the Master's dictatorship.

The Welshman nodded and placed the folder on the corner of his desk. He really had more important things to do than that.

"I felt betrayed,"Owen suddenly mumbled from above him and Ianto almost jumped in his chair; he had been sure the man had already left. He raised his head and quirked an eyebrow. The other man didn't seem to notice, eyes fixed on a point a couple of inches higher than Ianto's head. "I guess we all did. All you have ever said and done was a lie. You weren't Ianto, the real one. You were just a cheap broken copy from another reality, someone that had snuck into our lives and... But then I realized... You are the Ianto we know. Every memory, every happy moment, you didn't steal those. It all happened with you. You are not from this universe, but, hey, nobody is perfect. And keeping in mind that, can we just agree that I was an asshole, that I don't deserve to breathe the same air as you and the only suitable punishment is a painful death?"

A few seconds of silence, a brief nod from Ianto and a shy smile and...

"Now, do I get to experiment on you?"

Weird, but Gwen never did apologize. She changed her behaviour, yes, practically overnight but she never gave a reason for the way she had acted or even said sorry.