New Story, First in a very long time so be gentle.

Warnings; Language, later chapters may have a few more warnings

They'd had the beginnings of…. something

Contrary to the team's belief that Jack was a sexual maniac, "Shag anything if its gorgeous enough" in Tosh's words, he and Ianto hadn't been at it like rabbits throughout the hub. Far from it, they hadn't had sex at all.

I mean they'd come close, Ianto thought, Oh, so damn close.

From the very beginning, from that moment in the warehouse with a pterodactyl metres away and mere millimetres between their lips, they'd had a tension, a chemistry.

With Lisa around, with the secret hanging over him, he had dismissed it, put the lingering looks as Jack's overly flirty nature, his heartbeat under Jack's gaze just a side effect of his natural charisma. Its part of the act, he thought, keeping him from finding out about her.

When they all found out, Jack's looks alternated between betrayal and understanding, with him battling between forgiving Ianto's lovesick mistake and dismissing him entirely. The first physical contact came in the archives, Ianto's sanctuary away from the rest of the team. He let his cracks show there, let the weight of what he had done hang from him like a vice. Jack had slipped down unnoticed, watched him work in silence and pain.

"Ianto" he'd murmured, and when he looked up, seeing that agony, all Jack could do was hold him. He'd held him tight to his chest until he felt the other man lose some of that tension. He didn't hug him back, not this time, but he allowed it, felt the meaning behind it. Jack gave him the softest of kisses on the cheek, so soft he almost convinced himself it didn't happen. Then he was gone and Ianto was alone again, but the world didn't seem quite so hopeless after that.

The first kiss came after the countryside. Gwen and Tosh had gone home to try and process whatever way they could. Owen had stayed long enough to patch wounds then left too. Jack had hovered while Ianto was stitched up, watched as he gingerly put a clean shirt over his bruised and battered torso, then approached him gently.

"I'm so sorry Ianto" he said quietly, "You shouldn't be put in that position"

"I'm part of the team Sir, we all had it bad"

"But I never wanted to see you hurt" he placed his hands on Iantos arms gently, quickly adding, "any of you"

"we'll heal" Ianto looked up at him, "it'll all be okay"

And Jack had leaned in, pressing his lips to Ianto's. It had lingered for far longer than a peck but neither deepened the kiss, Ianto simply out of shock and he would never know what Jack was thinking, nobody ever knew what Jack was thinking.

As horrific as the countryside had been for them all, it had in a way achieved Jacks purpose of team building; Ianto was one of them again. They relaxed around him, laughed and joked and let him in. This left Jack free to flirt relentlessly again. There were always the comments about the suit, the eyes, the arse. Ianto built up the courage slowly to give as good as he got. Culminating in him propositioning Jack over his stopwatch.

As soon as he'd said it, as soon as he'd pressed the button counting 10 minutes, he was overcome with a feeling of simply where the fuck did that come from?! He headed to the office as instructed, conflicted. Did he even want this to happen? Did he just get caught up in the attention? Did Jack just like the chase with no real intention of follow through?

And then Jack was grinning at him, was looking at him in a way that just screamed I want you. And Ianto wanted him, with no explanation at all, more than anything or anyone. The stopwatch itself, what had led him to this position, stayed forgotten in his pocket as Jack approached him, held out his hand and dragged him into a kiss that turned his brain to complete mulch. It was tongues and teeth and hands, it was happening so quickly….and then it wasn't. Jack stepped away from him and Ianto later thought it was a credit to himself that he didn't sink to the floor to an incoherent heap at that moment.

"We can't do this yet, you're not ready" Jack said, to Ianto's utter disbelief. He'd gone home without another word, confused and rejected but dying for more.

There were so many almost moments after that, quick and dirty makeout sessions while the rest of the team were out, where Ianto could feel Jacks arousal painfully against his own. Every time he would think it was time, that Jack would finally let it happen. Ianto would never initiate the encounters but was a completely willing and eager participant. And each time, Jack would stop himself, it'd be some comment about it not being time and he'd be gone again. Ianto could count on one hand the number of meaningful conversations he'd had with Jack. He'd never been much of a talker anyway, he reasoned. But to know Jack, to understand him even a little bit, would make this frustration a little easier to swallow. Because really what was this? The lack of sex meant fuck-buddies didn't work, but at least that would make sense. Friends with (some) benefits was closer, but no. He just didn't have the words.

It was in the days after Jack disappeared that Owen, the least expected, who finally asked "So what was going on with you and Jack?"

"what do you mean?"

"Come on" Owen scoffed, "I couldn't give two shits and still have noticed, the way he looked at you, how he'd disappear down to the archives and come back missing buttons…"

"I've never slept with him" Ianto muttered bitterly, "whatever it was, cheap bit of fun it seems"

"So why are you beating yourself that he's gone?"

"Because we should've been…" Ianto sighed, "Honestly, I don't know what it was, what it would've been, but he's up and left"

"The way he kissed you when he came back…"

Ianto thought back to that moment. Jack had never kissed him like that, never in public, and never with that level of tenderness. That kiss said I'm here, I'm happy you're here too, be with me. Ianto had felt so many possibilities in that kiss, more than a quick fumble, the makings of a couple.

And then he left. He fucking left. Without a word.

"Ianto" Owen brought him back to there and now, "Stop doing this to yourself. Move on, get a life outside of this place, outside of him. Be happy"

"As if its that simple"

"well it could be if you open yourself up to it, meet someone new"

Ianto raised an eyebrow, "dating advice from you? The self-confessed manwhore"

"Do as I say not as I do" Owen shrugged, "fancy going out tonight? Have a pint, get some distance"

Ianto was ready to say no but stopped. Owen had a point. If something was going to happen with Jack, something that could be considered more than an arrangement, then it would've happened. If he'd meant anything to Jack, he couldn't have left with no explanation. He was holding on to a memory, a ghost of a connection that for all he knew would never come back.

"Yeah okay"

They went out. Ianto met Jenny. And then Jack came back.

Left on a cliffhanger, will develop this quickly I hope next chapter soon! Please Review