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Entry tags:
Patience
Yet again blame Jantolution's challenge. ^_^
Fandom: Torchwood (huzzah!)
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Word Count: 2400
Summary: All Jack really wants is a nice, peaceful night in...
Prompt: Jantolution Challenge #1, Prompt - Fairy Tale.
Patience
“Once upon a time,” Jack said, keeping his voice gentle to try and avoid scaring the child, “there was a Talrakeyan called Marallo. He was about as tall as you, and had four arms and a tail, like all Talrakeyans do. One day, he was on his way to visit his friend Dalla…”
Ianto stood in the bedroom doorway and watched him, feeling intensely relieved that Jack had taken things so well. He’d half expected Jack to be so angry he’d leave again as soon as he’d arrived. After all, he had been expecting to pick Ianto up for a date and a long, comfortable evening at his flat afterwards, but instead had turned up to find that Ianto had had to help out the woman in the flat below, and was stuck babysitting her four year old son, while she rushed his seven year old brother to hospital after he’d fallen down the stairs and cracked his head open.
Instead Jack had shrugged and smiled and called up the restaurant to cancel their table, shaking his head at Ianto’s flood of apologies and ordering in pizza instead, while Ianto kept a miserable eye on the boy, who’d overcome his initial shyness and had wanted to show them all the little treasures he’d gathered and kept in his half of the bedroom.
“Rather an unconventional fairy story,” Ianto commented softly, when Jack had finally got the boy to go to sleep. Jack smiled at him, ushering him out of the bedroom and closing the door quietly behind them.
“Might as well get him used to the idea of aliens,” he said, heading over to the sofa and pulling Ianto down to sit beside him. “Who knows what he’ll have to deal with in his lifetime?”
Ianto risked cuddling against him a little, still slightly worried that Jack was annoyed about cancelling their date, and murmured, “You’re good with kids.”
“You sound surprised,” Jack said dryly. “Did you think I wouldn’t be?”
“I don’t know,” replied Ianto, shrugging one shoulder. “I never really expected to find out.”
Jack laughed slightly, saying, “Guess not. Tonight was quite a surprise for both of us, then.”
At that Ianto tensed, uncomfortable, and started to pull away from Jack, saying, “I’m really sorry, I –”
“Hey, it’s not your fault,” Jack told him, still smiling, and hugged him sideways. “I couldn’t expect you not to come to the rescue, could I?”
“But you had everything planned, and the table reserved, and –”
Jack put a finger to Ianto’s lips, then kissed him quiet. Pulling back, he said, “It doesn’t matter. At least I’m with you. And I swear we’ll make up for it just as soon as the kid’s mother gets back and we get to go back to yours.”
“Do I have to be patient until then?” Ianto asked, smiling a little now, and Jack nodded.
“Afraid so.”
“Fine,” Ianto murmured, making himself comfortable and cuddling up to Jack as much as he could. “She shouldn’t be too long.”
~*~
Three hours later, and Jack was humming wartime songs softly, one hand stroking Ianto’s hair as he rested his head on Jack’s shoulder, far more than halfway asleep. Then Ianto’s phone went off.
Jack sighed, saying nothing as Ianto jerked upright, fishing his phone out of his pocket and checking the message.
“Automatic alert,” he told Jack, rubbing at his eyes. “Now what?”
“Now I get really annoyed, because the rest of my evening’s been spoiled,” Jack said, getting up and fetching his coat from the back of the nearest armchair. “Stay here until she’s back, then get to the Hub as fast as you can. I’ll go see what the problem is and call if we go anywhere.”
Ianto nodded, and got up to see him to the door. They paused for a moment as Jack shrugged his coat on, then he smiled and reached towards Ianto. They didn’t actually get as far as hugging, because that was when the door opened.
Immediately, as Ianto’s neighbour entered, with her son in tow, Ianto turned, asking, “Is everything alright?”
She nodded distractedly, the boy pausing to stare shyly at Jack while his mother said, “I’m sorry I was so long, the A and E was packed. I know you had plans for tonight. I hope Nathan wasn’t any trouble?”
“Not at all,” Ianto reassured her, and glanced at Jack, gesturing towards him, and getting as far as saying, “This is my friend, Jack,” before the boy sidled forwards and tugged at Ianto’s hand, saying, “I got stitches, Ianto, look,” and pointed to his head.
Jack smiled at the woman while Ianto was sidetracked, and held out his hand, saying, “You must be Lucy. Ianto didn’t tell me you were so pretty.”
She laughed and shook his hand, grinning, “Flattery will get you everywhere. Can I get you anything to drink?”
“Any other time, I’d love to take you up on that,” Jack told her earnestly, while Ianto made an appropriate fuss over the boy’s hard-earned wound, “but I’ve got to get going. Gotta get to work. Ianto?”
Ianto glanced up and nodded, hurrying to fetch his coat as Jack nodded to the woman and made his way out.
“You have to go as well?” Lucy asked Ianto when he paused to say goodbye, and he smiled a little ruefully, saying, “Jack’s my boss. I have to get to work too. Sorry. I’m glad Elliot’s alright, though.”
“Well, thank you for your help, then,” she said as he headed for the door, and he nodded, smiling, “Of course. It was no trouble,” then had to run to catch up with Jack.
Jack had walked to Ianto’s before their aborted date, but since they were in a hurry now, Ianto drove them back to the Hub, paying little attention to Jack’s impatient restlessness and occasional curse. Despite their rush, they weren’t first to get back, as both Owen and Tosh had already arrived. That had some advantages, though – when Jack and Ianto came down on the paving stone lift, the others glanced up, then Tosh started to explain, saying, “We need to do a quick recovery operation. Someone’s got hold of a Marleya energy weapon and is sending up some pretty big fireworks on the outskirts of the city.”
“Standard procedures, then,” Jack said, jumping down from the lift. “Ianto, fetch the stun guns and that thing that looks like a miniature pogo stick. Owen, you’re prepared to deal with serious burns, of course? Tosh, cover story. And somebody tell me where the hell Gwen is?”
“Probably can’t get away from her boyfriend,” Owen said, grabbing a few things from his desk and shoving them into his pockets. “He seems the clingy type.”
“Never mind,” said Jack impatiently, heading into his office to put his bluetooth headset on and grab a few amnesia pills, just in case. “Tosh, send her a message with the location and tell her to meet us there if she’s coming. Let’s go.”
~*~
The four of them didn’t speak much on the way there, apart from Toshiko’s occasional, “Turn here,” or, “Next road,” which usually resulted in Owen and Ianto being thrown suddenly to one side or the other of the SUV.
When they screeched to a stop at the green, a group of youths scattered and ran. Tosh pinpointed the one with the energy weapon, and she, Jack and Ianto gave chase, leaving Owen to mind the car, since he’d been the last to jump out.
It was a short chase, anyway – as soon as Jack got close enough, he fired the alien weapon Ianto had fetched for him. A group of long, vine-like orange strands shot out and hit the running boy, then gathered themselves together as he stumbled, and started winding around his legs, tripping him up neatly.
The three of them slowed to a walk, and Ianto carefully retrieved the Marleya weapon, then he and Tosh set about deactivating it. Jack crouched by the boy and started coaxing the orange strands back into the gun, not really paying much attention to the boy’s cries of, “I didn’t steal it, honest! I only found it, I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“It’s stolen property and you’re in possession of it,” Jack lied calmly, as the orange strands slithered happily back into the gun and he briefly checked the area for any strays. “We’ll let you off this time, but if you find anything weird like that again, you hand it in to the police.”
The boy sat up and then scrambled to his feet, glancing between the three of them and rubbing his arms, where the orange strands had started to tie him up in their enthusiasm.
“So… I can go?”
“Yeah,” Jack said, standing, and going over to check that Tosh and Ianto had properly deactivated the weapon. The boy hesitated for another moment, then Jack glanced back at him, waved a hand impatiently, and said, “Go home!”
He started walking back to the SUV, and the others followed him.
After a second, Tosh said, disapprovingly, “I thought no alien tech was meant to leave the Hub.”
“Not without my express permission, no,” Jack agreed. “Fortunately I had my express permission.”
“We could have caught him without that,” she said.
Jack shrugged, saying, “Yeah, so?” as they reached the SUV again.
Ianto went to put the Marleya weapon and the netting gun in boxes in the boot, telling Owen, “Nobody was hurt,” and getting a disappointed sigh in answer.
“Look,” Jack said, glancing at Tosh, “like Ianto says, nobody was hurt, we have the weapon, and the whole thing was wrapped up twice as fast as normal. What’s the problem?”
“People will have seen,” Tosh muttered, aware that she was fighting a losing battle.
Jack shrugged again, and said, “So what? They’ll have seen weirder. It’s not important. Now can we get a move on and get back to the Hub?”
They were all about to pile into the SUV when another car pulled up beside them, and Gwen climbed out hurriedly, asking, “What did I miss?”
“Nothing,” Tosh said, at the same time as Jack told her, “Everything. Excitement’s over, go home.”
She stared at them as they all got into the SUV and slammed the doors, then shrugged and obeyed.
~*~
Ianto found their new acquisition a place in the armoury, while Jack replaced the netting gun. With that done, Jack turned to him, impatience written across his face, and asked, “Now can we go home?”
Smiling, Ianto nodded, but said nothing. He led the way back to his car, amused by Jack’s exaggerated sigh of relief as he closed the passenger door. Jack turned to Ianto, beginning to say something as Ianto started the engine – which spluttered and died abruptly. In the following silence, Jack bit his tongue and stared resolutely out of the front windscreen, determinedly not looking at Ianto, who had lowered his forehead to the steering wheel and squeezed his eyes shut.
After a few seconds, Jack said quietly, “Flat battery?” and Ianto said simply, “Yes.”
“Call some breakdown service?” Jack suggested, and Ianto nodded against the steering wheel, sighing, “Going to have to.” He sat up and reached for his phone, telling Jack, “This will probably take at least an hour, you know.”
Jack grabbed his hand and pulled the phone out of his grip, saying, “Screw that. Give me a few minutes.”
Ianto looked at him in surprise, but let Jack put his mobile on the dashboard and hop out of the car. He went sprinting back towards the Hub, and Ianto sat waiting until he returned, cheerfully waving two power rods at him as he headed round to open the bonnet and hook them up. Letting the battery charge from them, he came to sit back in the car again, saying, “Couple of minutes and we’ll be fine.”
“Is this some more of that express permission being put to use?” Ianto asked.
“All in a good cause,” Jack told him.
After a few more minutes, Jack went to check on the chargers, and then called to Ianto, “Try it now.”
Ianto obeyed, and smiled broadly when the engine roared into life. Jack slammed the bonnet shut and returned to the passenger seat, grinning as he threw the depleted power rods onto the back seat.
“Genius,” Ianto said approvingly, and Jack laughed, putting on his seatbelt and saying, “That’s why you love me.”
Ianto put the car in gear and pulled away, saying nothing, but smiling all the way home.
~*~
Jack was practically twitching by the time they were back at Ianto’s flat at last. It was distracting, making Ianto fumble with his keys a little, but he unlocked the door on his second try and let them in, then turned and locked it behind them. When he turned round again he found himself somewhat trapped as Jack planted his hands on the door, either side of Ianto’s head.
“Despite appearances,” Jack said, “I am really not a patient man.”
Ianto’s reply was cut off when Jack kissed him. It was some time before he had the opportunity to mutter, “Patience is overrated.”
Grinning, Jack went to kiss him again, but Ianto laughed suddenly, then said, “Sorry,” as Jack pulled back a little.
“What?” Jack asked. “What did I do?”
“Nothing, I just…” Ianto said, then shook his head and continued, “I’m sorry. Tonight must have been awful for you.”
“Coulda been a hell of a lot worse,” Jack told him, idly running the backs of his fingers down Ianto’s cheek.
“True,” Ianto agreed. “It just made me think of that story you were telling earlier. You know, where the hero has to overcome a series of challenges before he can achieve his ultimate goal.”
Jack snorted. “It’s not like I was trying to rescue my girlfriend from space pirates, though.”
“I’ll admit there are some differences,” Ianto conceded, smiling, and Jack just nodded, one hand trailing down to the knot of Ianto’s tie as a thoughtful look crept onto his face. Ianto’s smile grew wider.
“On the other hand,” he said quietly, “they do have the same ending.”
“Mm?” Jack asked distractedly, exerting a little pressure on Ianto’s tie and looking up to meet his eyes.
Ianto resisted his pulling just long enough to murmur, “And they all lived happily ever after.”
Fandom: Torchwood (huzzah!)
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Word Count: 2400
Summary: All Jack really wants is a nice, peaceful night in...
Prompt: Jantolution Challenge #1, Prompt - Fairy Tale.
Patience
“Once upon a time,” Jack said, keeping his voice gentle to try and avoid scaring the child, “there was a Talrakeyan called Marallo. He was about as tall as you, and had four arms and a tail, like all Talrakeyans do. One day, he was on his way to visit his friend Dalla…”
Ianto stood in the bedroom doorway and watched him, feeling intensely relieved that Jack had taken things so well. He’d half expected Jack to be so angry he’d leave again as soon as he’d arrived. After all, he had been expecting to pick Ianto up for a date and a long, comfortable evening at his flat afterwards, but instead had turned up to find that Ianto had had to help out the woman in the flat below, and was stuck babysitting her four year old son, while she rushed his seven year old brother to hospital after he’d fallen down the stairs and cracked his head open.
Instead Jack had shrugged and smiled and called up the restaurant to cancel their table, shaking his head at Ianto’s flood of apologies and ordering in pizza instead, while Ianto kept a miserable eye on the boy, who’d overcome his initial shyness and had wanted to show them all the little treasures he’d gathered and kept in his half of the bedroom.
“Rather an unconventional fairy story,” Ianto commented softly, when Jack had finally got the boy to go to sleep. Jack smiled at him, ushering him out of the bedroom and closing the door quietly behind them.
“Might as well get him used to the idea of aliens,” he said, heading over to the sofa and pulling Ianto down to sit beside him. “Who knows what he’ll have to deal with in his lifetime?”
Ianto risked cuddling against him a little, still slightly worried that Jack was annoyed about cancelling their date, and murmured, “You’re good with kids.”
“You sound surprised,” Jack said dryly. “Did you think I wouldn’t be?”
“I don’t know,” replied Ianto, shrugging one shoulder. “I never really expected to find out.”
Jack laughed slightly, saying, “Guess not. Tonight was quite a surprise for both of us, then.”
At that Ianto tensed, uncomfortable, and started to pull away from Jack, saying, “I’m really sorry, I –”
“Hey, it’s not your fault,” Jack told him, still smiling, and hugged him sideways. “I couldn’t expect you not to come to the rescue, could I?”
“But you had everything planned, and the table reserved, and –”
Jack put a finger to Ianto’s lips, then kissed him quiet. Pulling back, he said, “It doesn’t matter. At least I’m with you. And I swear we’ll make up for it just as soon as the kid’s mother gets back and we get to go back to yours.”
“Do I have to be patient until then?” Ianto asked, smiling a little now, and Jack nodded.
“Afraid so.”
“Fine,” Ianto murmured, making himself comfortable and cuddling up to Jack as much as he could. “She shouldn’t be too long.”
Three hours later, and Jack was humming wartime songs softly, one hand stroking Ianto’s hair as he rested his head on Jack’s shoulder, far more than halfway asleep. Then Ianto’s phone went off.
Jack sighed, saying nothing as Ianto jerked upright, fishing his phone out of his pocket and checking the message.
“Automatic alert,” he told Jack, rubbing at his eyes. “Now what?”
“Now I get really annoyed, because the rest of my evening’s been spoiled,” Jack said, getting up and fetching his coat from the back of the nearest armchair. “Stay here until she’s back, then get to the Hub as fast as you can. I’ll go see what the problem is and call if we go anywhere.”
Ianto nodded, and got up to see him to the door. They paused for a moment as Jack shrugged his coat on, then he smiled and reached towards Ianto. They didn’t actually get as far as hugging, because that was when the door opened.
Immediately, as Ianto’s neighbour entered, with her son in tow, Ianto turned, asking, “Is everything alright?”
She nodded distractedly, the boy pausing to stare shyly at Jack while his mother said, “I’m sorry I was so long, the A and E was packed. I know you had plans for tonight. I hope Nathan wasn’t any trouble?”
“Not at all,” Ianto reassured her, and glanced at Jack, gesturing towards him, and getting as far as saying, “This is my friend, Jack,” before the boy sidled forwards and tugged at Ianto’s hand, saying, “I got stitches, Ianto, look,” and pointed to his head.
Jack smiled at the woman while Ianto was sidetracked, and held out his hand, saying, “You must be Lucy. Ianto didn’t tell me you were so pretty.”
She laughed and shook his hand, grinning, “Flattery will get you everywhere. Can I get you anything to drink?”
“Any other time, I’d love to take you up on that,” Jack told her earnestly, while Ianto made an appropriate fuss over the boy’s hard-earned wound, “but I’ve got to get going. Gotta get to work. Ianto?”
Ianto glanced up and nodded, hurrying to fetch his coat as Jack nodded to the woman and made his way out.
“You have to go as well?” Lucy asked Ianto when he paused to say goodbye, and he smiled a little ruefully, saying, “Jack’s my boss. I have to get to work too. Sorry. I’m glad Elliot’s alright, though.”
“Well, thank you for your help, then,” she said as he headed for the door, and he nodded, smiling, “Of course. It was no trouble,” then had to run to catch up with Jack.
Jack had walked to Ianto’s before their aborted date, but since they were in a hurry now, Ianto drove them back to the Hub, paying little attention to Jack’s impatient restlessness and occasional curse. Despite their rush, they weren’t first to get back, as both Owen and Tosh had already arrived. That had some advantages, though – when Jack and Ianto came down on the paving stone lift, the others glanced up, then Tosh started to explain, saying, “We need to do a quick recovery operation. Someone’s got hold of a Marleya energy weapon and is sending up some pretty big fireworks on the outskirts of the city.”
“Standard procedures, then,” Jack said, jumping down from the lift. “Ianto, fetch the stun guns and that thing that looks like a miniature pogo stick. Owen, you’re prepared to deal with serious burns, of course? Tosh, cover story. And somebody tell me where the hell Gwen is?”
“Probably can’t get away from her boyfriend,” Owen said, grabbing a few things from his desk and shoving them into his pockets. “He seems the clingy type.”
“Never mind,” said Jack impatiently, heading into his office to put his bluetooth headset on and grab a few amnesia pills, just in case. “Tosh, send her a message with the location and tell her to meet us there if she’s coming. Let’s go.”
The four of them didn’t speak much on the way there, apart from Toshiko’s occasional, “Turn here,” or, “Next road,” which usually resulted in Owen and Ianto being thrown suddenly to one side or the other of the SUV.
When they screeched to a stop at the green, a group of youths scattered and ran. Tosh pinpointed the one with the energy weapon, and she, Jack and Ianto gave chase, leaving Owen to mind the car, since he’d been the last to jump out.
It was a short chase, anyway – as soon as Jack got close enough, he fired the alien weapon Ianto had fetched for him. A group of long, vine-like orange strands shot out and hit the running boy, then gathered themselves together as he stumbled, and started winding around his legs, tripping him up neatly.
The three of them slowed to a walk, and Ianto carefully retrieved the Marleya weapon, then he and Tosh set about deactivating it. Jack crouched by the boy and started coaxing the orange strands back into the gun, not really paying much attention to the boy’s cries of, “I didn’t steal it, honest! I only found it, I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“It’s stolen property and you’re in possession of it,” Jack lied calmly, as the orange strands slithered happily back into the gun and he briefly checked the area for any strays. “We’ll let you off this time, but if you find anything weird like that again, you hand it in to the police.”
The boy sat up and then scrambled to his feet, glancing between the three of them and rubbing his arms, where the orange strands had started to tie him up in their enthusiasm.
“So… I can go?”
“Yeah,” Jack said, standing, and going over to check that Tosh and Ianto had properly deactivated the weapon. The boy hesitated for another moment, then Jack glanced back at him, waved a hand impatiently, and said, “Go home!”
He started walking back to the SUV, and the others followed him.
After a second, Tosh said, disapprovingly, “I thought no alien tech was meant to leave the Hub.”
“Not without my express permission, no,” Jack agreed. “Fortunately I had my express permission.”
“We could have caught him without that,” she said.
Jack shrugged, saying, “Yeah, so?” as they reached the SUV again.
Ianto went to put the Marleya weapon and the netting gun in boxes in the boot, telling Owen, “Nobody was hurt,” and getting a disappointed sigh in answer.
“Look,” Jack said, glancing at Tosh, “like Ianto says, nobody was hurt, we have the weapon, and the whole thing was wrapped up twice as fast as normal. What’s the problem?”
“People will have seen,” Tosh muttered, aware that she was fighting a losing battle.
Jack shrugged again, and said, “So what? They’ll have seen weirder. It’s not important. Now can we get a move on and get back to the Hub?”
They were all about to pile into the SUV when another car pulled up beside them, and Gwen climbed out hurriedly, asking, “What did I miss?”
“Nothing,” Tosh said, at the same time as Jack told her, “Everything. Excitement’s over, go home.”
She stared at them as they all got into the SUV and slammed the doors, then shrugged and obeyed.
Ianto found their new acquisition a place in the armoury, while Jack replaced the netting gun. With that done, Jack turned to him, impatience written across his face, and asked, “Now can we go home?”
Smiling, Ianto nodded, but said nothing. He led the way back to his car, amused by Jack’s exaggerated sigh of relief as he closed the passenger door. Jack turned to Ianto, beginning to say something as Ianto started the engine – which spluttered and died abruptly. In the following silence, Jack bit his tongue and stared resolutely out of the front windscreen, determinedly not looking at Ianto, who had lowered his forehead to the steering wheel and squeezed his eyes shut.
After a few seconds, Jack said quietly, “Flat battery?” and Ianto said simply, “Yes.”
“Call some breakdown service?” Jack suggested, and Ianto nodded against the steering wheel, sighing, “Going to have to.” He sat up and reached for his phone, telling Jack, “This will probably take at least an hour, you know.”
Jack grabbed his hand and pulled the phone out of his grip, saying, “Screw that. Give me a few minutes.”
Ianto looked at him in surprise, but let Jack put his mobile on the dashboard and hop out of the car. He went sprinting back towards the Hub, and Ianto sat waiting until he returned, cheerfully waving two power rods at him as he headed round to open the bonnet and hook them up. Letting the battery charge from them, he came to sit back in the car again, saying, “Couple of minutes and we’ll be fine.”
“Is this some more of that express permission being put to use?” Ianto asked.
“All in a good cause,” Jack told him.
After a few more minutes, Jack went to check on the chargers, and then called to Ianto, “Try it now.”
Ianto obeyed, and smiled broadly when the engine roared into life. Jack slammed the bonnet shut and returned to the passenger seat, grinning as he threw the depleted power rods onto the back seat.
“Genius,” Ianto said approvingly, and Jack laughed, putting on his seatbelt and saying, “That’s why you love me.”
Ianto put the car in gear and pulled away, saying nothing, but smiling all the way home.
Jack was practically twitching by the time they were back at Ianto’s flat at last. It was distracting, making Ianto fumble with his keys a little, but he unlocked the door on his second try and let them in, then turned and locked it behind them. When he turned round again he found himself somewhat trapped as Jack planted his hands on the door, either side of Ianto’s head.
“Despite appearances,” Jack said, “I am really not a patient man.”
Ianto’s reply was cut off when Jack kissed him. It was some time before he had the opportunity to mutter, “Patience is overrated.”
Grinning, Jack went to kiss him again, but Ianto laughed suddenly, then said, “Sorry,” as Jack pulled back a little.
“What?” Jack asked. “What did I do?”
“Nothing, I just…” Ianto said, then shook his head and continued, “I’m sorry. Tonight must have been awful for you.”
“Coulda been a hell of a lot worse,” Jack told him, idly running the backs of his fingers down Ianto’s cheek.
“True,” Ianto agreed. “It just made me think of that story you were telling earlier. You know, where the hero has to overcome a series of challenges before he can achieve his ultimate goal.”
Jack snorted. “It’s not like I was trying to rescue my girlfriend from space pirates, though.”
“I’ll admit there are some differences,” Ianto conceded, smiling, and Jack just nodded, one hand trailing down to the knot of Ianto’s tie as a thoughtful look crept onto his face. Ianto’s smile grew wider.
“On the other hand,” he said quietly, “they do have the same ending.”
“Mm?” Jack asked distractedly, exerting a little pressure on Ianto’s tie and looking up to meet his eyes.
Ianto resisted his pulling just long enough to murmur, “And they all lived happily ever after.”