Same Ianto, Different Jack - Chapter 9
by gracefultree
A/N: Thank you everyone for reviewing and enjoying. Here's a nice long chapter for you.
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Morning came all too soon. Ianto woke to the sound of New Jack's wriststrap beeping incessantly. The pleasantness of being warm and almost naked in New Jack's arms quickly dissipated. New Jack groaned, reaching over Ianto to turn it off, thereby wrapping himself closer around Ianto. He twined their legs together under the light blanket. Their eyes met in the dim bunker. New Jack looked away, embarrassed.
"Hey," Ianto said, taking his face in his hands. "You ok?"
"I'm sorry about yesterday," New Jack responded, his voice rough and sleepy.
"Everyone needs a good cry now and then," Ianto murmured, kissing New Jack. "Especially someone like you."
"No, I'm sorry about what happened with Gwen."
"Doesn't matter," Ianto replied a little too quickly.
"No, it does," New Jack protested. "I shouldn't have had sex with her when I hadn't made up my mind yet. Hell, I probably shouldn't be doing this, either." He snuggled closer to Ianto, breathed in the scent of him, soaked up some of the warmth. "But I feel like I can let my guard down a little with you," he said in a whisper. Ianto held him close and started stroking his hair. New Jack continued.
"I feel like I can trust you. You're honest about what this would be, what it would mean and what it wouldn't. I know you're going to leave someday, so I can relax and enjoy what we have now. I can't do that with her. Everything I think she wants, she changes, and everything I want... Well, it gets shoved under the rug. I've been trying to ignore it, but..."
"I'm sorry, Jack."
"She just doesn't see me for me," New Jack complained. "I don't think she ever has. Makes me wonder if she'll ever be able to do it."
"She idolizes you too much," Ianto offered. "She doesn't see you as a man, flawed like the rest of us. You're her hero."
"My mother always warned that you're not supposed to marry the hero because they tend to die," New Jack said. "That's not something I have to worry about, huh?" He grunted at the irony.
"My mother told me that stories always end with the Prince and Princess getting married because after that it's all about babies and nappies and politics and affairs."
"She told you that?" New Jack asked, surprised.
"Well, I'm paraphrasing."
New Jack chuckled and rolled so he could look directly into Ianto's eyes. He hesitantly ran his fingers down Ianto's cheek, through his hair, over his stubbled chin, testing if Ianto would protest. "You need a shave, Mr. Jones," New Jack said playfully. He kissed along Ianto's jaw, behind his ear, along his throat. Ianto closed his eyes and hissed in pleasure. New Jack continued, growing more bold. He sucked on Ianto's ear.
"Jack, we have to stop," Ianto complained, pushing ineffectually at New Jack, his smile matching New Jack's in its playfulness, his tone light and teasing.
"You don't really mean that," New Jack murmured, running his teeth along Ianto's collarbone, making Ianto shiver. "Do you?"
"My head says yes, my cock says no," Ianto answered, pulling New Jack's face up for a deep kiss. "Or is it the other way around?" New Jack hummed appreciatively, finding said cock and stroking it lightly through the fabric of Ianto's boxers. Ianto moaned, crushing his hips against New Jack's, feeling erection sliding on erection with only thin cotton between them.
New Jack's lips found his chest, kissing, exploring. Where had his shirt gone? And where was New Jack's, for that matter? And - oh God - was that teeth on his nipple? How did New Jack know he liked that?
Ianto's eyes slid closed again as he responded to the touch, to the pheromones in the air, to his body telling him it had been too long since his last fuck. Since when was two days too long? He latched onto New Jack's neck, sucking and licking, biting gently until he had another mark to prove New Jack was his. New Jack moaned and thrashed in his arms.
This was nothing like the quick fuck they'd shared before in Ianto's cell. This was almost making love.
Simultaneously, they moved to kiss again.
"I want you, Ianto," New Jack said breathlessly between kisses, slipping his hands under the waistband of Ianto's boxers to caress his ass.
"Yes," Ianto growled, having long since given up the fight with himself. Gwen or no Gwen, he was going to have this man! He needed this man, though not as much as he needed His Jack... But His Jack wasn't there, and seducing New Jack into trusting him would make it easier to get back to His Jack. He just had to do it in a way that wouldn't break New Jack when he left.
It sounded like New Jack was aware of the risks of getting involved with him, though. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard, after all. Maybe they could figure it out.
Either way, Ianto had made his decision sometime between last night and this morning. Maybe it was seeing New Jack so upset yesterday, maybe it was the comfort they both gained from contact with each other, maybe it was simply the sexual attraction between them, but he wasn't going to deny them pleasure any longer.
"I want you now," New Jack clarified.
"Yes," Ianto repeated.
"Right now, on this bed."
"Yes!"
"Please don't be playing with me," New Jack begged, and Ianto heard a desperation in New Jack's voice. A vulnerability. "I know I haven't fully made my choice yet, but I'm getting closer and closer, and -"
"It's ok, cariad," Ianto whispered, cutting New Jack off. "I'm asking you to change your whole life. It's not easy, and to do it for someone who might leave tomorrow, well, that makes it more scary, doesn't it? That I'll go back?"
New Jack nodded.
"Make love to me now, Jack. Let's see if that helps you choose." Ianto kissed New Jack's closed eyelids. New Jack sighed happily, relaxing again in Ianto's arms. "That's it. Let me take care of you, yeah? We'll start the day out right." They kissed again, hands moving deftly over skin, heating the air and the moment between them.
New Jack's wriststrap started beeping again, more insistently than before. He glanced at the tiny display and started cursing.
"What?" Ianto asked.
"Gwen's here," New Jack answered. "She just went in through the tourist office."
"Shit! What do we do?" Ianto squeaked, feeling like a teenager being caught making out in his parents' bed because there was so much more space than in his own. Not that there was really any space in this bed, but that wasn't the point...
"I'll go change the CCTV logs, then distract her. Then you run back down there as fast as you can when she's not paying attention to my office," New Jack decided. He kissed Ianto again. "I'm sorry. I'll figure it all out soon, I promise." Ianto nodded and let him go, sad that he had to hide what was happening between them, but happy that New Jack seemed to be choosing him over Gwen. And he's willing to show me some of his loneliness and vulnerability so quickly, Ianto thought. It took months for My Jack to let me see this far into his psyche.
Then again, this Jack has been ignored and beaten down by Gwen. He sighed. I always knew they'd be bad for each other.
Ianto dressed and sat in New Jack's bunker out of sight of Gwen, who charged into New Jack's office as soon as he climbed up the ladder, still dressed only in his boxers. Ianto was glad to see his erection had gone down.
"Jack! What's the meaning of this?" Gwen demanded shrilly. "I waited up all night for you!" she exclaimed in that voice that said 'take pity on poor little me.' Ianto hated that voice. There was a pause, and Ianto imagined her looking at New Jack's disheveled state. "And what are you doing dressed like that? That's highly inappropriate, don't you think?"
"Come on, Gwen, let it go. I just woke up," New Jack responded. "And it's not like everyone sees the goods every other week in the showers, or anything. Or is it? Oh, wait, yes, they do!" he finished sarcastically. "If I want to wander around my home dressed like this before everyone else arrives, I have every right to."
"This isn't your home," Gwen corrected him. "Your home is with me, in our flat."
"I hate that flat," New Jack muttered.
"What? No, you don't. We picked it together."
"I wanted a penthouse flat," New Jack exclaimed. "That was my only requirement. And where are we? The ground floor!"
"That's not important," Gwen replied, dismissing his concerns.
"That was the only thing I cared about!" New Jack shouted.
In the distance, Ianto heard the cog wheel door opening a second time. Tosh, he assumed. New Jack stomped from his office, Gwen following. Only Jack could make so much noise with bare feet.
"Jack!" Tosh exclaimed. "Is it casual, um, Tuesday? It is Tuesday, right? Casual Tuesday? Or Almost Naked Tuesday?" She paused, then continued with an admiring, flirtatious tone His Tosh had never used with His Jack. "Or maybe we can make it Naked Tuesday?"
New Jack laughed, a strained laugh, but a laugh nonetheless. "It's Tuesday," he told her. "I haven't decided what to wear yet. Should I go with the blue shirt, or the blue shirt?"
Tosh giggled. "I think the blue one." Ianto heard some movement, but didn't dare go up the ladder yet. "What are you both doing here so early?"
"Gwen and I were just discussing our living arrangements."
"Oh?" Tosh asked, curiosity bubbling over in the single syllable.
"I want to move house to a penthouse flat," New Jack declared proudly. Ianto smiled in the dark. He loved when Jack was confident.
"It's not safe," Gwen interjected.
"I think it'd be rather romantic," Tosh said, a smile in her voice. "Standing there, looking out at the city we protect..."
"Tosh! You're just the woman for me. Let's get that flat together," New Jack said. "Bet Ianto would like it, and we know Owen does..."
"We are not all living together!" Gwen shouted, interrupting New Jack's rambling. "Besides, I need you to concentrate, here. We have to figure out the seating arrangements."
"The what?" New Jack asked.
"The seating arrangements," Gwen repeated. "You know, for the reception."
"For the reception?"
"After the ceremony," she explained, as if talking to a small child. "After we have the wedding ceremony, there's the reception."
"The reception," New Jack muttered, and Ianto could hear a strange catch in his voice. "You planned a reception? How many people are supposed to be there?"
"Oh, I'm not sure, maybe a hundred. I'm still waiting to hear back from a few people."
"You planned a reception for a hundred people for our wedding when I specifically told you I wanted a quiet civil ceremony at the registrar's with just Tosh and Owen?" Ianto heard the edge of steel in New Jack's voice, and he shivered. This wasn't going to be fun. He was glad he was hiding down in the bunker.
"Of course I did," Gwen said. "You can't have a wedding that simple anymore. And I wanted my family and friends there."
"And you thought going behind my back and planning it on your own was a good idea?" New Jack asked.
"You wouldn't have helped," Gwen replied, still talking to the imaginary child. "How could I have gotten what I wanted otherwise?"
"And what about what I want?" New Jack asked.
"You've got me. That should be more than good enough," Gwen answered.
"Get out," New Jack growled. When no one said anything and Ianto didn't hear movement, he assumed Gwen had crossed her arms over her chest and glared at New Jack, trying to stare him down as she was wont to do. "I said, get out!" New Jack shouted.
"But, Jack -"
"No! You have systematically gone behind my back and changed everything about the wedding that we agreed on. I can't look at you right now. Go!"
"But -"
"Go!" New Jack roared. Ianto heard Gwen's reluctant footsteps and the cog wheel door opening and shutting. "Ianto!" New Jack called. "Coast is clear, come on out."
Ianto obediently climbed the ladder and walked through New Jack's office to the main Hub. Tosh had an arm around New Jack's shoulders, and New Jack was shaking. Tosh looked up, took in his new outfit and that he'd come from the office where she knew New Jack slept and nodded at him. He strode over to hold New Jack as Tosh slipped away.
"Has she always been like that?" New Jack asked Tosh.
"It's gotten a lot worse since you got engaged," she answered. "I mean, you told her in front of the whole group that you came back for her, then asked her to marry you."
"I came back for all of you!" New Jack said.
"Well, she thought it was for her only."
New Jack shook his head sadly and leaned against Ianto. "What do I do now?" he asked.
"For now, get dressed," Ianto said. "I'll take you out for coffee."
"You don't have any money here," New Jack pointed out, a small smile finding its way to his lips.
"Oh, well then. Can I borrow ten pounds?" Ianto asked with an impish grin on his face. New Jack laughed, a much more relaxed than earlier when Tosh was flirting with him.