Same Ianto, Different Jack
Chapter 22
by Gracefultree
A/N: We now return to our regularly scheduled program. Enjoy!
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Ianto woke to find himself held in Jack's arms, with his arms around Jack, Jack's strength and pheromones reassuring in the early morning hours. He sighed in pleasure, wondering if today would be a day they could take a few extra minutes before work called them in. It had been a long time since they'd shared a leisurely shower and breakfast. He leaned forward and started nibbling on Jack's neck. Jack sighed in his sleep as one of his hands stroked down Ianto's back to cup his ass. Ianto chuckled softly, continuing the kisses. Maybe he'd be able to bring Jack off in his sleep, not something that happened often because usually Jack was such a light sleeper. Today, however, he seemed down for the count as Ianto shifted to hold him at a better angle and reach for his cock.
Ianto's foot brushed against a leg. A distinctly non-hairy, non-male, non-Jack leg. He froze. On his other side, the side that didn't include Jack, there was a woman sleeping. A woman!
Bugger, Ianto thought, extricating himself from Jack's arms and slowly climbing out of bed so that he didn't disturb either person still there. I thought we were done with having other people in our bed, he continued, grumbling silently to himself as he used the loo and washed his hands. He glanced back at the pair in the bed, but the woman had covered her head as if blocking out the world, and Jack had taken Ianto's departure as an opportunity to sprawl out across the space he'd been occupying as well as his own.
Shit, what happened last night? I certainly don't remember going out to find someone… Damnit, Jack, why do you have to do this kind of thing? We're doing fine, just the two of us. We don't need anyone else. Unless… Unless it's too intimate for you to deal with, it being just us. Fuck, I thought we were done with that, too. He paused, wandering through his flat without bothering to turn on the lights. He bumped into an end table on his way to the kitchen.
Fuck! Why does he always have to move my furniture? Bastard. And here I thought we were doing so well.
In the kitchen, Ianto noticed three glasses in the sink and an empty bottle of Jack's favorite scotch on the counter. Well, that would explain why I don't remember anything. Honestly, though, I can't believe I agreed to bring someone home. Jesus, if he needed to fuck a woman, the least he could do is go take care of it on his own.
Ianto sighed and started brewing coffee by rote. Why do I put up with him? he asked himself. As soon as we seem to be doing well, he does something like this. But, that's what I expect, I guess. We never talk about us, about what we're doing. It's all assumptions and things left unsaid. Would it be different if I actually told him how I feel? Would it matter to him that I just want it to be us, that I'd like him to keep it that way? Would he be willing to try that?
No, probably not. Sure, he likes me, and cares about me in his own way, and the sex is great, but he's not the kind of man who's made for monogamy. I knew that when I got into this the second time. Hell, I knew it the first time, but I was cheating on Lisa with him, so it hardly mattered.
Jack padded into the room on silent feet, though Ianto sensed his presence as he always seemed to be able to do lately. Jack came up behind Ianto and hugged him, kissing the side of his neck.
"Morning," Jack mumbled. "Is there enough coffee for all of us?"
Ianto turned in Jack's arms and gave him a quick kiss. "I'm not sure. Do you deserve coffee?"
"I'll be good," Jack drawled, pressing more kisses along Ianto's jaw. His hands found Ianto's ass. "Hmm, you took off your clothes. Excellent. Let me get a good look at you, yeah?" He stepped back to give Ianto one of the most sultry once-overs ever. Ianto's cheeks reddened even as his cock filled.
"Jack, enough of that," he chided, pulling Jack back against him, deciding he didn't care for the moment that there was some woman in the other room when Jack was looking at him like he was the main course at the feast. He ran his fingers through Jack's hair as he kissed him, the other hand teasing Jack's boxer-clad ass. "You should take those off," he murmured between kisses. He tugged gently at the hem, helping Jack remove the garment.
"If this is how you are every morning, I think I'm going to like having you around," Jack declared, dropping to his knees to blow Ianto. Lost in the sensations, Ianto wasn't able to interpret Jack's comment immediately. He put both hands on Jack's head, not bothering to guide him because Jack knew what he was doing.
Only he didn't.
Jack's actions were confident, as they always were, yet tentative, mapping Ianto's cock to learn his responses as he blew him. Jack hadn't had to do that in a very long time, which meant… this wasn't Jack.
He grabbed not-Jack's hair and pulled him back to meet his eyes. "Who are you?" Ianto snarled, his erection dying at the wave of anxiety that some alien had taken his lover's shape, or, worse yet, taken over his body. "What have you done with Jack?" he demanded.
"Um, Ianto, I don't think we're at the roll-play stage yet," not-Jack said with a grin. "We haven't discussed safewords." He raised an eyebrow at Ianto, a smirk settling onto his features. "But if you'd like to continue this, mine's 'red.' Simple and easily remembered."
Ianto threw not-Jack backwards until he landed on his back on the kitchen tiles. "That's not Jack's safeword."
"Your Jack's, maybe not, but we established yesterday that I'm not him, or did you drink too much last night to remember where you are?" non-Jack said, getting to his feet. He snagged his boxers and pulled them on.
Ianto paused, thinking. Last night? Last night? What happened? He glanced back at the glasses in the sink. Wait a minute, those aren't my glasses. They're the ones I bought Lisa and had to get rid of during my suspension when I couldn't be reminded of her anymore… He looked from the glassed to not-Jack, then at the kitchen in general. This isn't my flat. It feels like it, but it's not. What —
Memories hit him like a blow to the head and he collapsed to his knees. He wasn't home. He was in an alternate universe where Lisa was alive and he'd been the one half-converted. New Lisa's Jack crossed his arms over his chest as he looked down at Ianto.
"Remember now?" he asked.
Ianto nodded silently, drawling his knees up to his chest and hugging them. "I'm not home," he whispered.
"No, you're not."
"And you're not My Jack," he added, his voice even softer.
"No, I'm not."
"And in the other room, that's —"
"Lisa," New Lisa's Jack supplied when it didn't seem like Ianto would continue. Ianto closed his eyes as if to block out the reality of the situation.
"Lisa," Ianto whispered. Above his head, the coffee machine beeped.
"Do you want me to leave? Give you time to get your head sorted?"
"No, I — " Ianto paused. "I want him."
"If I were him, what would I be doing right now?" New Lisa's Jack asked.
Ianto shook his head. "You'd be, um, flirting, and teasing me about making coffee naked, since it's just about the only thing other than sex I'll do around the flat without clothes," Ianto said after a minute. "Then you'd blow me, or fuck me in the shower, or we'd share a wank, or—"
New Lisa's Jack chuckled. "I've got the idea. Get one in before work, just in case. Not a bad plan," he mused, stroking his chin. "I could do that."
"No, I don't — I don't think that's a good idea," Ianto said. "Not yet."
"No?"
"There's to many Jacks in my life," Ianto said to himself. "How do I even begin to keep you straight?"
"Well, I'm not much for those quaint little labels…" New Lisa's Jack trailed off, his eyes sparkling with amusement at his own pun.
"Ha, ha," Ianto answered, rolling his eyes.
New Lisa's Jack wandered to the other side of the kitchen and got down a pair of mugs. He filled them both with coffee. "What do you like in yours?" he asked, opening the fridge to rummage around for milk.
"Black," Ianto said without enthusiasm. "You should try it like that before you put whatever shit she has in there in it."
"Hazelnut creamer," New Lisa's Jack said, giving the bottle a shake. "Two weeks past its expiration date."
"See? Shit."
New Lisa's Jack handed Ianto one of the mugs and sat down on the floor next to him. He took a sip and moaned obscenely. Ianto huffed into his mug.
"Wow!"
"Wait until I make you a cup with the good beans. You'll come in your trousers," Ianto predicted.
"Did he?"
"Just about. Of course, I was pressed up against him from behind at the time, giving him a friendly grope, as he'd say." Ianto lowered his legs to sit cross-legged, grabbing a dishtowel to cover his groin. "So what changed your mind about me?" Ianto asked. "Because it's obvious you're treating me differently today."
"I watched those videos, just the first nine, like you suggested. And I read your diary."
Ianto sighed. "Yeah, I guess I was expecting that."
"You're a very insightful man," New Lisa's Jack commented. "You know your mind pretty well, for someone so young."
"You know, I'd be insulted by that if I didn't know roughly how old you are." New Lisa's Jack gave him another gobsmacked look, practically the same one as the day before when Ianto mentioned the Time Agency. "I know your secret," he explained. "I won't tell the others. I kept it quiet for nearly nine months before they found out."
"But they find out?"
"Shit. Knowing the future's really hard to deal with, isn't it?"
New Lisa's Jack snorted. "In some ways it's harder for you than me. I only know the major brushstrokes of the next few millennia. You've got a few years, but they were recent for you, so it's hard to keep from saying anything."
"Does Lisa know?"
"No, Gwen's the only one. She found out the same way she did in the DVDs."
"She's sleeping with Owen?"
"Yep."
"You and Lisa?" Ianto asked hesitantly.
"Surely you asked her yesterday," New Lisa's Jack hedged.
"But I want to hear your side. If I'm actually going to consider anything with either of you."
"She wants monogamy. I can't give it to her. She still sleeps with me, despite her misgivings, and I go out on the pull when I want or need to. It's been five weeks since we started back up."
"Yeah, that's about what she said."
"I can't do monogamy with you, either. I couldn't keep to just the two of you."
"I know," Ianto said softly. "I don't expect it, knowing you, knowing who he was at this point in time. But I'd only be with you and her."
"I figured you'd say that."
They sat in silence for a few minutes drinking their coffee.
"Ianto?"
"Hmm?"
"I'll do what I can to get you home. I promise."