3
"Ianto? Milkshake?"
Ianto looked up for the keyboard and nodded accepting the large glass of banana milkshake, taking a large mouthful, and then saying thickly "Owen misses these. Can't drink one if he wants to kiss Tosh."
"Huh?"
"Owen's wife Toshiko. She's allergic to bananas. Can you even imagine that?" Ianto asked his eyes wide and childlike. HE was so cute, a little milk moustache.
"I didn't know that was a thing" Jack admitted as he settled in a chair, picking up the sheet of music and humming what was scribbled on it, Ianto grinning as he heard a different beat and saw that Jack made a point without even knowing it.
Ianto started to play in the speed and tone Jack was humming. The music soared and by the time he was done both men were grinning like idiots.
"Wow" Jack said softly "That was so… strong."
"It was, right?" Ianto giggled, so childlike all of a sudden and Jack felt a tinge, like he was a fucking paedophile or something grooming a child. Shit, he was getting too close.
"Well, I need to do a sweep" Jack rose and headed out the door almost mowing down Ifan who was standing outside the studio listening and he gave Jack a look that Jack knew. He was trying to work out how close he was getting so Jack smiled like it was no big deal and started to walk jauntily away.
"Son? It's late"
Ianto turned from the keyboard and smiled "I know Da. I just finished a melody that was tickling my brain. I will go to bed now, thank you for reminding me."
Ifan watched Ianto pack things away and after he had left, he opened the piano stool to check what the song was called that had just been created, only to discover the pages were blank.
Ianto had taken the book with him.
.
.
Jack returned to the studio to find it dark and silent, then he headed up for Ianto's room only to find chaos and a hysterical man as he tried to stop his father from ripping the place apart, goons helping out with looks of glee.
"What the hell is going on here!" Jack roared with horror.
"He is hiding it… I must have it. He cannot hide from me, anything. It's my property, it belongs to the company" Ifan was ranting as he began ripping Ianto's bed apart as well.
"Hiding what? You two…. Out!"
Both men turned to look at Ifan so Jack added "OR you are fired from MY employ! Don't forget who head of security is here!'
The men left and Jack turned to Ifan "tell me! What do you think he is hiding?"
"The song book, that song he just created!" Ifan roared.
Jack stared at him for a while then said softly, like he was speaking to a child "The sheets of paper still on the piano's Sheet stand? Ianto left them as he is not finished yet".
Ifan stopped ripping at the bookcase and turned to Jack "What?"
"I went in there to find it dark and closed down, I saw the piano closed but on the sheet stand was two sheets of music. The song he is working on. Clearly not finished as he did not put it away, or title it yet" Jack was still trying to calm Ifan by being calm himself. Even if he did secretly want to smash his fucking face in for terrorising the man now on his hands and knees, sobbing as he tried to pick up the mess his father had made.
Ifan stormed off and Jack turned to Ianto who looked up at him with wonder "What did you do?"
"I placed the song from the other night there, I guessed this is what was happening up here when my radio crackled" Jack assured him, crouching "I know you have that song."
"The one place he would never look" Ianto answered, patting his pocket and grinning "He thinks I am too afraid to… well… cameras and microphones. This place has ears."
"I have noticed" Jack whispered back, then he rose and said loudly "So, tomorrow you can work on it more. For now, bed mister."
"But the mess… I can't sleep in the mess" Ianto sighed.
"Then chose a guest room. It is too late, this will take hours to put right. Come on" Jack sighed, leading Ianto to another room. Soon it was logged in the security log and written on the whiteboard in the control room that Ianto was in the Red Room for the night, pending a 'mishap' that needed to be cleaned up in his own room.
Jack had no idea the nest of wasps he was about to kick open with this simple act of placing Ianto where Ifan could not find him… unless he asked like a moral person or looked at the whiteboard in the security room like a normal person.
Oh no.
Jack was about to see the curtain pulled back and the wizard was not all he was racked up to be.