John manage to get things done in a shorter amount of time than he thought, so when Jack shows up hours before the party, they get a chance to take their friendship to a new level. When a few other guests decide to come a early as well, it becomes a little awkward. Even if Jack gets a little annoyed with John, the two of them come to an agreement. Ianto, Jo, Gwen and Cas get a tour of John's big house. Ianto feels a little jealous, but handles it.

Song in this chapter

Might Tell you tonight - Scissor Sisters - M/L: Hoffman, Sellards

Is this what they call benefits?

John had so little time. The first thing he did when he arrived was to call a caterer. He wasn't going to make the food himself. It wasn't easy to find one that could deliver on so short notice for New Years, but he eventually managed.

Next he had to get the beer, and that was luckily way easier. He just payed a random guy to go buy it for him, and he was back in good time before he felt like he needed to go to bed. It was still fairly early in the evening, but he hadn't gotten much sleep since he boarded the plane in Honolulu, and he wanted to be well rested before the party.

There was still a few things to do before the guests arrived. When he woke up in the morning, he was going to decorate the living room. It wasn't easy to make it look like Hawaii with the snow falling outside the big panorama windows, so he just gave it up.

The caterer delivered a little before two o'clock and after storing the food in the cooler, he decided to take a shower before he anything else.

He was just out of the shower when the doorbell rang, and as he hurried to get the robe on, he wondered who it could be. He didn't expect the guests to arrive until around seven.

He ran downstairs and opened the front door to find Jack on the stoop. "I hope you don't mind that I'm early. I had nothing better to do." John didn't mind at all, Jack would definitely be welcomed anytime.

"I can make some coffee if you like." He walked in front of Jack towards the dining room. "Or do you want a drink instead?" He rounded the dining table and gestured for Jack to sit down on one of the bar stools at the kitchen island separating the two rooms. John knew he had to get dressed and ready for his guests, but since he decided to skip the decorations, he still had a couple more hours to go. Jack could probably help him with the extra chores anyway.

-o-o-o-

"Are you and Ianto...er, are you…" Jack stuttered a little, but John knew exactly what he was going to ask. They had both opted for coffee. John had showed Jack the house and also told him what happened that made him come back earlier than planned.

"No, we are not. I kind of screwed up that one." He sighed and gave Jack a wink. "We're still friends, but there are issues..." Jack cocked his head. "What happened? I kind of got the impression that the two of you were inseparable."

John took a sip from his cup before he sighed. He wasn't sure if he should tell Jack, but he felt that he had to confide in someone. "We are really just friends. There has never been anything more between us, and I should have just left it that way."

Jack got clearly very interested. "What did you do? You have to tell me." John slumped his head down and picked on a fingernail. "I kissed him, and I… Well nothing really happened."

With a chuckle Jack got up to pour himself another cup. "You kissing people seems to lead to trouble. Remember Cas?" He came back and sat down. "Was that also just an innocent kiss on the cheek, or did you actually make out with Ianto?"

John eased himself out of the bar stool and walked over to stand behind Jack. "None of the above. I just…" He wrapped his arm around the guy's waist from behind. "I'll show you exactly what I did." Jack startled a little but didn't resist.

He pulled the collar of Jack's shirt down before he pressed his lips against the nape of his neck. At the same time he pushed his hand up under under the shirt, and caressed the skin of his chest. Jack hitched his breath before he put his own hand on top of John's. "And what was Ianto's reaction to that?" He held onto the hand preventing John from moving it.

"He kind of, er, asked me to stop, but then we just fell asleep. We were drunk." The intimacy between them started to have it's effect on John, and he wondered if he should pull away. "Oh. You were in bed together, so it wasn't exactly like this?" Jack turned his head to look at John, but the position made it difficult.

"No not exactly." He knew he should have stopped, but he couldn't help leaning in to kiss Jack's neck again. Jack got up from the stool and turned around. Without any underwear, the robe couldn't conceal John's arousal, and it became perfectly clear that Jack noticed.

"Why don't you show me exactly what happened." He leaned forward a little almost letting their lips touch. "Or better yet. Why don't you show me what could have happened if…" He didn't finish the sentence, but it wasn't really necessary. Their lips locked together and they clung to each other as they moved a little clumsily towards the couch in the living room.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

John sounded a bit like he'd been running before he answered his phone. Gwen had begged Ianto to call and ask if they could come a little early, because Ianto's dad was about to bore Castiel and Jo to death.

They didn't seem particularly interested in the long speech about why soccer was a much better game than what they called football in the US, but they tried hard to be polite. Ianto knew that Gwen kind of agreed with her uncle; she didn't quite understand the rules of the American football, but she had noticed Jo's begging eyes when Ifan started to explain the 'offside rule' in detail.

"We have to get out of here." She pushed the phone into his hand. "I could call him myself, but he's your friend."

After picking up Castiel they had decided to go back to the house for a little while. It was still too early to go to the party, but the most important reason was because Jo called shortly after they left the Novak house. She needed an excuse to stay out all night and had told her parents that she was going to spend the night at Gwen's. They offered to take her there, and it meant that Gwen actually had to be at home when she arrived.

The phone rang for the longest time before John picked up. He was practically panting. "Sorry, sorry, I was busy. What's up?" Ianto explained the urgency, and after a short hesitation John replied. "Sure. Come on. When will you be here? Fifteen minutes?"

Even if his words were quite enthusiastic, his voice didn't really fit. He actually sounded a little bummed about it, but it was probably because he was trying to get it all ready before any guests showed up. Ianto did his best to not take it personally, but after the little stunt John pulled that night almost two months ago, there had been a weird tension between them.

They had never really talked about. Partially because they didn't have much time alone. After the party, Ianto had left his sound system and instruments in the basement, so it was more natural to go down there when they hung out together. Gwen was with them most of the time and Jo dropped by on occasions.

There had never before been any discussions on whether John would spend the night or not, but after the incident he always seemed eager to get back home to his own bed. Ianto wasn't quite sure if it was his own demeanor that caused this. He knew he hadn't been very forthcoming either.

He felt that he couldn't urge John to stay, because he was afraid it would be taken the wrong way. Not that he had any idea what the wrong way was. He didn't know if he wanted to pursue the issue. John was just a friend, and Ianto wanted to keep it that way, but he could still get a little aroused just thinking about what happened.

Lately they hadn't really hung out much at all. Exams and the work on the Christmas show had left them with little time to socialize outside of school.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"When you're quiet, but your eyes

Are saying everything I need to know

I want to burrow like a sparrow…"

The sound of music came from an undetermined place. John jumped up and hurried to pull the robe around him before he stopped for a second to listen to hear where the sound actually came from.

"I've been waiting for the day

When I can throw away these numbers

That line my dresser drawers and cupboards

Start me over…"

Jack got quite amused the way John practically dived into the dining room to find his phone. It was obviously somewhere in the kitchen, because John seemed to be heading straight towards the counter where they had been sitting with their coffee.

"And I just might say it tonight

I just might say it tonight

I just might tell you tonight

That I love you

And you should stay all…"

The music got cut off when John picked up, and whoever was on the other end had to notice that he sounded a little frantic.

After ending the conversation, John came back and slumped down on the couch next to Jack. "Ianto. He is coming early. I'll better get dressed." He looked at Jack out of the corner of his eye. "Just as well, ey?"

Jack sighed as he reached his hand out and stroke John's back. "Maybe you're right. This is not the time." He had never planned that anything like this was going to happen between them. Not that they got very far anyway.

"Can we not tell anyone?" John leaned his head onto Jack shoulder. "I mean…oh, you know what I mean." Jack chuckled a little. "What's there to tell. Nothing really happened here. A little kissing, a little fondling. Totally innocent." There was nothing innocent in the thoughts that raged through Jack's head during the few minutes they had on the couch. Technically, he was the one doing the fondling. John was practically naked, while Jack hadn't even unbuttoned his pants.

"Yeah. Nothing really happened." John kissed him on the cheek before he got up. "It wouldn't have either, right? I, we are not like, in love. I mean I like you, but… I really…" Jack could almost feel John eyes panning his body. "You're hot, but I'm in… Maybe not in love, but there's someone else."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Oh, for Christ sake. This has nothing to do with love, hun." He got up and put his hands on each side of John's head before he leaned in a kissed him passionately. There was a sliver of reciprocation from the guy before he pulled back. "Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. I have to go."

They looked into each others eyes for a moment. "You know, I want to keep this a secret as well." Jack shrugged. "I wouldn't mind continuing this at a later time, but this…" He waved his hand between them. "This is just, uh, a friendship with a chance for benefits."

John smiled and looked down as he shook his head a little. "I see. You don't want to be tangled into anything that'll keep you from leaving when the school year is over, but isn't it a little shallow?"

"Shallow? Why? It's consensual. We both know what we want, nobody is leading anyone on. It's just a bit of fun. It's not like we're cheating on anybody either." Jack was starting to get tired of John's weird rationalisations. He obviously had some idea that sex and love were synonymous. It was quite unexpected, and Jack realized that John wasn't as experienced as he liked people to believe.

The whole conversation was quite a turn off anyway, and the anticipation about what could happen when they were alone faded quickly. "Forget it, John. Get ready for your guests."

John slumped his head down and smiled at the floor. "NO. This isn't over. It's just..." He looked up before he headed toward the front door. As he crossed the hall he turned briefly. "Will you sleep over if I ask you?" Jack chuckled to himself. "You don't even have to ask."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A house is not only a home

Gwen was a little bit in awe as she stepped through the oversized front door of the house. She could see that the others were quite taken aback as well. Jo actually looked a little scared as she stared up on the almost bare white walls ending more than two floors up.

"Holy shit." Ianto took a few steps forward and panned the whole entrance hall. "This looks like something out of a movie. How do you keep this clean?" It was just like him to be so prosaic about this. Gwen didn't really care, she was just eager to see the rest of the house.

John shrugged. "Uh, we have people." He was still standing by the door behind them, obviously waiting to allow for his guests to let the first impression of the house sink in. "You have people? Of course you do." Jo had pulled off her big winter jacket and was standing there a little dumfounded. "Where do I put it?"

The hall didn't have any furniture that even resembled a clothes rack; there was really no furniture in the room at all except for a small cast iron bench next to the staircase, and a matching table with a big mirror above it on the opposite side.

John cleared his throat, making a sound that caused all of them to turn to him. He nodded towards a door to his left that Gwen hadn't even noticed when she came inside. "That's the wardrobe, you can put your coats in there." He turned and faced the other way. "And that's the bathroom. We have more of them, and I will show you."

They all went over there and John helped them put away their jackets. Gwen pulled off her boots, and dug a pair of heels out of her bag. She thought about the hatstand in Ianto's hall. It was always covered with an abundance of jackets, coats, and scarves, and their little shoe rack was piled up with footwear. John had a whole room for that, and it was quite big for a closet.

She crossed over to the bathroom. She just had to take a peek. The light came on automatically when she opened the door revealing a counter with two sinks, and two toilets in their separate little booths. Behind the door there was a shelf with towels, and a tiny little shower. It looked like it had never been used, but John obviously had people.

She caught up with the others as they peeked into the room on the right side of the hall. Gwen had already thrown a glance in there through the open double doors, but it was very dark so she couldn't see much. John flicked a switch. "This is the, er, theater."

To the right, there was a flat screen bigger than Gwen had ever seen in real life, while tall bookcases with glass doors covered most of the opposite wall. The only windows in there were three small rectangular ones high up on the far wall. The sofa and the chairs in there looked very comfortable, and she tried to imagine curling up there with someone to watch a horror movie or maybe a sappy love drama.

"Moving on." John turned off the light again, and led them across the hall. Similar double doors opened up to a dining room with a table that could seat twelve people. Behind it, there was a raised counter with four bar stools and then behind that again they could see the kitchen. It had black marble countertops and brushed steel appliances. Except for two coffee cups on the counter, it didn't look like it was in use either.

John had obviously done this tour before, and he looked a little bored as he pointed to three doors to his right. "That's the cellar, sort of, and that's the walk-in cooler. That door leads to the living room, but we will enter that later through it's main entrance." Gwen knew where that was. When they stood in the hall as they came in, she'd noticed the arched opening at the back of the room straight ahead from the front door.

They walked back out in the hall and John started to ascend the stairs. Gwen was right behind him when they reached the little balcony overlooking the hall and the front door. John gestured behind him. That's the guest rooms. Only two of them has their own bathroom. "Only two of them has their own bathroom? Are you kidding me? Where I come from, we all have to share the only two we have." Jo shook her head. "Can we take a look?"

Ianto tried hard to look unfazed, but Gwen knew him well enough. It had been a while since they discovered that John had a little more to spend than the rest of them, but none of them had expected this.

The room in the middle had two single beds, while the two others were equipped with King size doubles. Gwen didn't venture inside to look at the bathrooms. She already had an idea of what they looked like.

"That's my mom's room, and this is mine." John turned to them, "And no. My mother's room is off limits. No peeking." He looked directly at Jo and Gwen as they passed by two doors in the upstairs hall. "That's an extra guest bath, and there's a washroom." He stopped outside his own room and pushed the door open to let the guests come inside.

It was the only room so far that looked like it was used, but it was still the tidiest bedroom Gwen had ever been in. That included her own, which she prided herself in keeping spotless. "Do you have OCD or something? This is unreal." She slumped down on the loveseat under the window and panned the whole room. One couldn't really call it a bedroom. It was more like a suite. John even had a small fridge, a coffee maker, and his own TV. "Don't show this to the Winchesters. They'll hate you. Their whole apartment is smaller than this."

She knew she wasn't being fair, and she regretted the words as soon as they came out. "It was a joke. Please don't tell anyone I said that."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

From the hall, they were led through an archway and entered the living room. It was probably more than 30 feet wide, and quite a bit longer. Ianto couldn't really tell, but it was big. The first five or six feet of it was raised a little bit above the rest of it, and on the left of this stoop there was a bar.

A big couch had it's back against the two steps of stairs that went along the whole width of the room and brought them to the sitting area. The couch was far enough away from the steps to walk behind it, but not much more than that. The big glass coffee table in front of it had a love seat at each end. In the right corner there was a fireplace, and to the left they had four recliners surrounding a smaller glass table. Every seat in there was white leather, also the four or five foot stools that were scattered around seemingly at random. The white marbled floor was partially covered with light colored persian carpets, which matched the cream colored curtains perfectly.

Two panorama windows in front of them was so big that it looked like a glass wall. A small white baby grand piano was prominently placed on a sort of raised platform in front of the windows. On both sides of the room there were sliding doors, also quite big and also glass. They led out to covered patios outside.

Jack was sitting in one of the recliners waving as they entered. For some odd reason he seemed to belong in this environment. "Did you get the tour? Awesome isn't it?" He got up as he turned to John. "Can I get them drinks, or do you want to…?"

The familiarity he expressed as he walked towards that door leading to the dining room didn't sit well with Ianto, and he started to suspect that there was something going on between him and John. Why was he even there? The guests weren't supposed to arrive for another hour.

"Go ahead." John smiled at him before he turned back to the rest of his guests. "Do you want beer, mixed drinks, wine? I'm sure I can accommodate all of you no matter what."

Jack was standing at the door obviously waiting for an answer. Ianto decided to have a beer, Jo wanted a wine cooler, while Gwen wanted to mix her own drink. "If it's true. If you have everything, I can make an awesome 'Sex on the beach'." She looked at Cas. "I can make one for you too. The last time was just… not the right stuff."

Ianto had to admit to himself that he was a little bit starstruck as they walked around in this house, but at the same time he felt a little sorry for his friend. This model home was so sterile and way too clean. It didn't really look like anyone lived here. The coffee cups on the counter and the magazines on the table in John's room looked more like props than actual proof of this house being inhabited.

After getting a beer in his hand, Ianto walked around looking at the art on the walls as he clandestinely threw quick peeks at John and Jack. It could look like the two of them were trying to avoid getting to close to each other, but they were still laughing and joking as if nothing was the matter.

It was really just stupid to worry about. There was nothing he could do regardless.

Jack's sometimes not so subtle flirting was going nowhere. Ianto didn't even know if the guy was seriously trying to hit on him, or if it was just a big joke. The two of them had hardly ever exchanged a word in private, and Jack never seemed very eager to catch Ianto alone.

John's move was different, but that didn't go anywhere either. Ianto knew that he was partly to blame for that, but the whole thing had scared him more than he wanted to admit.

Whenever Jack looked at him, Ianto felt his heart skip a beat, but he was starting to realize that he was completely out of his league. The guy had been out and about, while Ianto himself had never even kissed a boy in his whole life.

With John it was different. Even if he had this big house and were filthy rich, Ianto had always felt that they were more on the same turf. John was probably a tad more experienced with both boys and girls according to the rumors he made sure to spread around about himself, but that didn't take much.

Ianto tried to push those silly thoughts out of his head. He should probably just go on and find himself a nice girl. Life would be so much easier if he could forget about both John and Jack.

It was kind of tough though. Even if the two of them didn't go near each other, Ianto could see that they exchanged a few somewhat flirtatious glances across the room, and he was very disappointed with himself when he realized that he was quite a bit jealous.

John had to take the tour again when the rest of the guests shuffled in. Gwen and Jo tagged along for an extra round, while Ianto and Castiel stayed behind in the living room. Jack had also opted to stay, but he was in the kitchen fetching another drink.

Ianto was looking out through the window when Jack came up to him. "Another beer?" He reached his arm around Ianto and held the bottle up. He was standing a little to the side behind him and so close that Ianto could feel Jack's hip pressing against his buttock.

"Sure, thanks." He wondered if Jack noticed that he hitched his breath a little as he spoke. He stared out on the falling snow as he grabbed around the neck of the bottle. "Nice view?" Jack put a hand on his shoulder and moved to stand beside him. "You know there's a pool out there? It's covered now in the winter, but you can see the outline of it through the snow."

Ianto didn't answer. He didn't trust his own voice to sound normal, so he just took a sip from the beer. *Maybe John can arrange a pool party when it gets warm enough. We should ask him." Jack let his hand run slowly down Ianto's back. "I'm sure you look really good in swimtrunks."

An image of Jack's tan and wet body emerging from a pool came into Ianto's head. His cock reacted instantly to it; it was just a twitch, but he did his best to think of something else.

"Hey, you two." John was back from the tour and he forced himself between them. "Admiring the view? You should see it the summer." He wrapped his arms around their waists. "We could have a pool party."

Ianto and Jack exchanged a look before they both started laughing. "We were just talking about that." Ianto dared to speak when the laughter had relaxed him somewhat.