The Aurora Line 8
Dec. 22nd, 2011 11:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
galadriel1010Title: The Aurora Line
Chapter Title: Take Me Home 1
Challenge/Fest: LongLiveIanto Bingo - Card the second
Prompt: Cooking Together
Rating: T
Dedication: For my mum, who will never read this but gave me inspiration by wittering on about series that ran before I was born
Summary: The Aurora Star Liner is one of the most luxurious liners in the Human Empire, crossing the spacelanes between New Earth and New Venus on a constant loop. For a boy from the outer colonies, she's not just a new life - she's a whole new world.
Characters: Jack (ish), Ianto (ish). Others when they choose to appear.
Contains:
Disclaimer: Torchwood and its environs, occurrences and persons belong to the BBC. The original characters have disowned me.
Ianto changed out of his uniform as quickly as he could and took his washbag with him to Jack's suite. His partner still wasn't back from his shore leave, so Ianto closed and locked the bathroom door, just in case. The counter around the sink, under a smaller window than the one in the bedroom, already held a tube of the toothpaste he preferred and a spare toothbrush, and there was a bottle of his hairwash above the back with Jack's hair products, bodywashes, skin lotions and everything else.
He ran the bath and sat on the edge to dabble his feet in the rising water. It had been a long day – a triple shift of maintenance, cleaning, training and restocking whilst the passengers from that leg disembarked and the next group embarked. Each docking period, with the refuelling and maintenance period included, gave them a total of six hours to do everything they hadn't been able to keep on top of during the unending day of the cruise. Ianto had had to train two of the escorts in basic therapies on top of his other duties, and his head ached as much as his feet. As soon as the water was deep enough he shed his clothes and slid down into it, closing his eyes whilst the bath continued to fill.
Out in the living room the door slid open and closed, and Jack's footsteps paused in their path. Soon after, the door panel lit up to warn him that someone had tried to get in, and then again to show that the communicator was active. ”I hope that's you in there, Ianto,” Jack called.
He smiled at the dappled patterns of light that played across the ceiling. “It's me,” he confirmed. “Just using your bath – hope you don't mind.”
The panel turned green and the door slid open to reveal Jack, who was grinning and already unfastening the collar of his tunic. Ianto rolled his eyes and reached out with one foot to let some of the water out of the bath, pointing at Jack idly. “Fold them, or else.”
“Or else what?” He folded them anyway, and locked the door behind him again. It would keep anyone else out, even if they hadn't bothered getting them set so that Ianto could lock Jack out. Once his clothes were tidied away into the warming cupboard he slid into the bath and settled back against Ianto's chest, craning his head to kiss him. “How was work?”
“The usual – you know I hate docking,” he grumbled. He did. Jack always got shore leave because his rank earned him the privilege and he went and got anything Ianto needed, but Ianto was always stuck in the spa for at least a double shift, usually a triple like the one he'd had that time. Eighteen hours on his feet, knowing that Jack would have a similar shift once they departed to get them out of the primary shipping lanes.
“Just one more rotation, and then you can have a break,” Jack told him.
Ianto frowned at the back of his head. “What?”
“This is your sixth rotation on the Aurora. Surely you knew?”
He tightened his arms around Jack's waist and tried to count. It couldn't be that long; that would mean that he'd been with Jack nearly five months. This was the fifth time that they'd docked on Earth since they met, though. "Time's flown," he conceded thoughtfully. "Time has really flown."
Jack nodded and trailed his fingers up and down Ianto's arm. "So have you thought about what you're going to do with your time off? If you're going to take it, that is."
"God, I need a holiday. But you're..."
"I could take the time off too," Jack told him quickly. "I said that a bit fast..."
Ianto smiled and kissed the side of Jack's neck. "And I appreciate the enthusiasm. Let me think about what to do, but I'd like to do whatever it is with you."
They let the water cool so that they had to get out of the bath before long, and Ianto followed Jack through to the living area whilst he towelled his hair dry. The passengers for the next leg were embarking, giving them a single shift together to stay out of the way of the hospitality and management staff before Jack had to be up on the bridge. "Where are you thinking of eating?" he asked. "Topside will be packed out already, but we might get a table at Diamono."
"I'm in the mood for something different." Jack's arm looped around his waist and turned him towards the little-used kitchen area. A stack of ingredients teetered precariously between the sink and Ianto's coffee machine, a gift from Jack, and Jack's tablet was settled in the holder on the cupboard door. "What do you think?"
Ianto rested his hands on his hips. "You're not suggesting that we... you are, aren't you?"
"Yep." Jack grinned at him. "We can cook for ourselves."
"I have never cooked in my life..." He sighed and rolled up his sleeves. "Recipe?"
"Nope. We're going to make it up as we go along." Jack wrapped around him and pushed him towards the counter. "Based on the instructions I got from Chef Waldor."
Jack actually had, much to Ianto's relief, detailed step-by-step instructions for what seemed like a simple recipe until they tried to make it. The kitchen space they had was ridiculously constrained, so they spread to the table and moved everything onto the sofa so that they could hover around it and poke ingredients at each other. Ianto had seen the chefs in the Upper Side restaurants sometimes, and they made combining dozens of ingredients seem as easy as breathing - between them, he and Jack managed to make what was clearly idiot-proof cooking into a major challenge.
Eventually they got to a stage where they had the main dish - strips of chicken blended with fresh, sweet spices in a fruity sauce - and the rice to go with it cooking on the hob, being minded by the computer, and the bread in the oven ready to warm. Ianto settled back onto the re-cleared sofa and curled into Jack's side tiredly. "I'm not cut out to be a chef," he lamented.
Jack laughed, wrapping his arm around Ianto's shoulders and pulling him closer. "None of those chefs would have any idea how to do your job either. And neither of you knows how to fly this ship." He sighed and checked his wrist strap. "Speaking of which, I only have two hours left before I have to be back on the bridge."
"Dinner will be ready soon." He craned up to kiss Jack and then settled down against him again. "Do you mind if I stay here again?"
"Ianto..." Jack pushed him until he lay with his head in Jack's lap, so that Jack could play with his hair and smile down at him. "I never mind, you know that."
He smiled back nervously. "I know. And I was thinking... it's okay if you don't want to, but if we're going to take a rotation off, I'll have to move out of my bunkroom for it... and I don't have to move back in there... Unless you don't want..."
"Yes. Yes, I want you to move in with me instead of back into the bunk room." He reached over Ianto and fumbled for his tablet, which nearly sent them crashing to the floor. "We can do the request form..."
Ianto laughed and pulled him back onto the sofa, kissing him firmly. "It'll wait until after dinner, at least? After all, we don't have long before you have to go back to work, and I can think of much more... enjoyable ways to spend our time."
The computer watched the food, and Jack used the time to press Ianto back into the sofa and kiss him thoroughly.
Next chapter
Chapter Title: Take Me Home 1
Challenge/Fest: LongLiveIanto Bingo - Card the second
Prompt: Cooking Together
Rating: T
Dedication: For my mum, who will never read this but gave me inspiration by wittering on about series that ran before I was born
Summary: The Aurora Star Liner is one of the most luxurious liners in the Human Empire, crossing the spacelanes between New Earth and New Venus on a constant loop. For a boy from the outer colonies, she's not just a new life - she's a whole new world.
Characters: Jack (ish), Ianto (ish). Others when they choose to appear.
Contains:
Disclaimer: Torchwood and its environs, occurrences and persons belong to the BBC. The original characters have disowned me.
Ianto changed out of his uniform as quickly as he could and took his washbag with him to Jack's suite. His partner still wasn't back from his shore leave, so Ianto closed and locked the bathroom door, just in case. The counter around the sink, under a smaller window than the one in the bedroom, already held a tube of the toothpaste he preferred and a spare toothbrush, and there was a bottle of his hairwash above the back with Jack's hair products, bodywashes, skin lotions and everything else.
He ran the bath and sat on the edge to dabble his feet in the rising water. It had been a long day – a triple shift of maintenance, cleaning, training and restocking whilst the passengers from that leg disembarked and the next group embarked. Each docking period, with the refuelling and maintenance period included, gave them a total of six hours to do everything they hadn't been able to keep on top of during the unending day of the cruise. Ianto had had to train two of the escorts in basic therapies on top of his other duties, and his head ached as much as his feet. As soon as the water was deep enough he shed his clothes and slid down into it, closing his eyes whilst the bath continued to fill.
Out in the living room the door slid open and closed, and Jack's footsteps paused in their path. Soon after, the door panel lit up to warn him that someone had tried to get in, and then again to show that the communicator was active. ”I hope that's you in there, Ianto,” Jack called.
He smiled at the dappled patterns of light that played across the ceiling. “It's me,” he confirmed. “Just using your bath – hope you don't mind.”
The panel turned green and the door slid open to reveal Jack, who was grinning and already unfastening the collar of his tunic. Ianto rolled his eyes and reached out with one foot to let some of the water out of the bath, pointing at Jack idly. “Fold them, or else.”
“Or else what?” He folded them anyway, and locked the door behind him again. It would keep anyone else out, even if they hadn't bothered getting them set so that Ianto could lock Jack out. Once his clothes were tidied away into the warming cupboard he slid into the bath and settled back against Ianto's chest, craning his head to kiss him. “How was work?”
“The usual – you know I hate docking,” he grumbled. He did. Jack always got shore leave because his rank earned him the privilege and he went and got anything Ianto needed, but Ianto was always stuck in the spa for at least a double shift, usually a triple like the one he'd had that time. Eighteen hours on his feet, knowing that Jack would have a similar shift once they departed to get them out of the primary shipping lanes.
“Just one more rotation, and then you can have a break,” Jack told him.
Ianto frowned at the back of his head. “What?”
“This is your sixth rotation on the Aurora. Surely you knew?”
He tightened his arms around Jack's waist and tried to count. It couldn't be that long; that would mean that he'd been with Jack nearly five months. This was the fifth time that they'd docked on Earth since they met, though. "Time's flown," he conceded thoughtfully. "Time has really flown."
Jack nodded and trailed his fingers up and down Ianto's arm. "So have you thought about what you're going to do with your time off? If you're going to take it, that is."
"God, I need a holiday. But you're..."
"I could take the time off too," Jack told him quickly. "I said that a bit fast..."
Ianto smiled and kissed the side of Jack's neck. "And I appreciate the enthusiasm. Let me think about what to do, but I'd like to do whatever it is with you."
They let the water cool so that they had to get out of the bath before long, and Ianto followed Jack through to the living area whilst he towelled his hair dry. The passengers for the next leg were embarking, giving them a single shift together to stay out of the way of the hospitality and management staff before Jack had to be up on the bridge. "Where are you thinking of eating?" he asked. "Topside will be packed out already, but we might get a table at Diamono."
"I'm in the mood for something different." Jack's arm looped around his waist and turned him towards the little-used kitchen area. A stack of ingredients teetered precariously between the sink and Ianto's coffee machine, a gift from Jack, and Jack's tablet was settled in the holder on the cupboard door. "What do you think?"
Ianto rested his hands on his hips. "You're not suggesting that we... you are, aren't you?"
"Yep." Jack grinned at him. "We can cook for ourselves."
"I have never cooked in my life..." He sighed and rolled up his sleeves. "Recipe?"
"Nope. We're going to make it up as we go along." Jack wrapped around him and pushed him towards the counter. "Based on the instructions I got from Chef Waldor."
Jack actually had, much to Ianto's relief, detailed step-by-step instructions for what seemed like a simple recipe until they tried to make it. The kitchen space they had was ridiculously constrained, so they spread to the table and moved everything onto the sofa so that they could hover around it and poke ingredients at each other. Ianto had seen the chefs in the Upper Side restaurants sometimes, and they made combining dozens of ingredients seem as easy as breathing - between them, he and Jack managed to make what was clearly idiot-proof cooking into a major challenge.
Eventually they got to a stage where they had the main dish - strips of chicken blended with fresh, sweet spices in a fruity sauce - and the rice to go with it cooking on the hob, being minded by the computer, and the bread in the oven ready to warm. Ianto settled back onto the re-cleared sofa and curled into Jack's side tiredly. "I'm not cut out to be a chef," he lamented.
Jack laughed, wrapping his arm around Ianto's shoulders and pulling him closer. "None of those chefs would have any idea how to do your job either. And neither of you knows how to fly this ship." He sighed and checked his wrist strap. "Speaking of which, I only have two hours left before I have to be back on the bridge."
"Dinner will be ready soon." He craned up to kiss Jack and then settled down against him again. "Do you mind if I stay here again?"
"Ianto..." Jack pushed him until he lay with his head in Jack's lap, so that Jack could play with his hair and smile down at him. "I never mind, you know that."
He smiled back nervously. "I know. And I was thinking... it's okay if you don't want to, but if we're going to take a rotation off, I'll have to move out of my bunkroom for it... and I don't have to move back in there... Unless you don't want..."
"Yes. Yes, I want you to move in with me instead of back into the bunk room." He reached over Ianto and fumbled for his tablet, which nearly sent them crashing to the floor. "We can do the request form..."
Ianto laughed and pulled him back onto the sofa, kissing him firmly. "It'll wait until after dinner, at least? After all, we don't have long before you have to go back to work, and I can think of much more... enjoyable ways to spend our time."
The computer watched the food, and Jack used the time to press Ianto back into the sofa and kiss him thoroughly.
Next chapter
