Love Is A Game 1: Matchmaker
Sep. 10th, 2010 08:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
galadriel1010Title: Matchmaker
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen and Tosh
Genre: Friendship
Rating: G
Era: Series 1
Series: Love Is A Game
Summary: Tosh decides that with just a little romantic manipulation, everyone in the Hub could be happier.
Contains:
Dedication:
Beta:
Disclaimer: Torchwood and its environs, occurrences and persons belong to the BBC. The original characters have disowned me.
Jack and Gwen were having another shouting match, about the usual subject – Jack knew that the Griftok they'd 'neutralised' last night was too dangerous to be left loose or even for the team to get any closer to it than they needed to to shoot it, whereas Gwen knew that it was injured and hadn't meant to hurt anyone, and if they'd only tried to communicate with it they could have brought it in without any further loss of life. Now they were inches apart, still shouting as if they were on opposite sides of the room, and Tosh knew that she was going to get a headache.
Ianto put a mug down next to her hand and she smiled up at him tightly, giving him a nod of thanks. He was still creeping around the Hub, avoiding their gazes, but it was so clear that he wanted and needed to be noticed. With a glance at Jack and Gwen, now debating the ethics of keeping Janet in the cell (loudly), he returned her nod and turned away. Tosh paused, looked at them, and called out, “Ianto?”
He stopped and half turned, looking over his shoulder at her. “Yes, Tosh?”
“Would you mind if I came down to the archives to try out this scanner?” She waved it at him. “I think I've got it working again.”
His gaze flicked to the stack of files on her desk, then followed hers to the oblivious debating competition. “Of course not, Tosh. It's the Archives, you're allowed down there whenever you like.”
She got up and followed him down, letting him lead the way through the catacombs to one of the archiving offices, where he stopped in the doorway. “You can use this office, if you like,” he rested one hand on his hip and the other twitched, as if he were restraining himself from running it through his hair. “Or if you just want to get away from them, you could...” he shook his head. “Sorry, I'd better get back to work.”
“Ianto, what were you going to suggest?” Tosh stopped him with a hand on his arm, which she dropped quickly.
He opened his mouth, closed it again, and then put both hands on his hips. “Well, I wondered, if you wanted to be out of their way... my office has room to sit, but not to work...”
She smiled and rested her hand on his arm again, flexing her fingers gently against the fine wool. “I wouldn't mind the company.”
His smile was brief, but brilliant, and he nodded, more relaxed than she'd seen him in a long time. He led her a bit further on, to a larger office which was filled with boxes of paper with a desk and three chairs in the middle of it. Ianto had to clear boxes off one of the chairs so that she could sit down, though. “I'm sorry it's a mess,” he told her, sounding like he was regretting the invitation, “It's normally just me down here.”
She put the scanner down on top of a stack of boxes and looked around. “What are you doing down here?”
“Checking that all the files are on the system,” he sat down in the wooden chair behind the desk and folded his hands in front of him. “I'm having to cross reference all the file references to make sure that they all got put in in the 1990s, before the Archives got abandoned, and then check the ones that don't come up haven't been put in incorrectly, like someone put a 2 instead of a Z...” he trailed off and shuffled the papers in front of him. “It... it doesn't matter, really.”
“Future archivists will love you,” Tosh pointed out gently. “They'll worship you as a God. Now...” she cut him off. “I can either distract you, or help you with it. Which would you prefer?”
He smiled back at her. “We should probably do some work. Don't want Jack to get jealous, do we?”
Was that a joke? Tosh wondered, nodding cheerfully and pulling the 'to do' stack towards herself so that she could read out the file numbers for Ianto. Just since they'd been down here, he seemed to have brightened up. In fact, she'd seen him smile more since they came down here than she had in a fortnight. Was all it took a bit of companionship? Was he really that starved of it?
She watched him from behind her fringe as they sorted the pile into 'filed' and 'to do part 2'. The work didn't take much effort on either of their parts, so it gave her plenty of opportunity to consider the problem that was Ianto Jones and, in part, Jack Harkness. Ianto was wilting away in the darkness, starved of human contact and recognition. Jack was on a collision course with Gwen which would end in either them shagging or him firing her, neither of which he would forgive himself for. Maybe if his efforts were diverted, everyone would benefit?
Ianto coughed and she looked up at him, blinking through her fringe. He looked amused. “Is that report really that riveting, Tosh?”
She pushed it away and got the next one, not noticing the extremely familiar signature at the bottom. “Sorry, yes, it was. Weevils never change.”
He nodded and put the next code she read out for him into the computer, and she returned to plotting, determined not to get so distracted that the subject of her contemplation noticed this time.
Next chapter
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen and Tosh
Genre: Friendship
Rating: G
Era: Series 1
Series: Love Is A Game
Summary: Tosh decides that with just a little romantic manipulation, everyone in the Hub could be happier.
Contains:
Dedication:
Beta:
Disclaimer: Torchwood and its environs, occurrences and persons belong to the BBC. The original characters have disowned me.
Jack and Gwen were having another shouting match, about the usual subject – Jack knew that the Griftok they'd 'neutralised' last night was too dangerous to be left loose or even for the team to get any closer to it than they needed to to shoot it, whereas Gwen knew that it was injured and hadn't meant to hurt anyone, and if they'd only tried to communicate with it they could have brought it in without any further loss of life. Now they were inches apart, still shouting as if they were on opposite sides of the room, and Tosh knew that she was going to get a headache.
Ianto put a mug down next to her hand and she smiled up at him tightly, giving him a nod of thanks. He was still creeping around the Hub, avoiding their gazes, but it was so clear that he wanted and needed to be noticed. With a glance at Jack and Gwen, now debating the ethics of keeping Janet in the cell (loudly), he returned her nod and turned away. Tosh paused, looked at them, and called out, “Ianto?”
He stopped and half turned, looking over his shoulder at her. “Yes, Tosh?”
“Would you mind if I came down to the archives to try out this scanner?” She waved it at him. “I think I've got it working again.”
His gaze flicked to the stack of files on her desk, then followed hers to the oblivious debating competition. “Of course not, Tosh. It's the Archives, you're allowed down there whenever you like.”
She got up and followed him down, letting him lead the way through the catacombs to one of the archiving offices, where he stopped in the doorway. “You can use this office, if you like,” he rested one hand on his hip and the other twitched, as if he were restraining himself from running it through his hair. “Or if you just want to get away from them, you could...” he shook his head. “Sorry, I'd better get back to work.”
“Ianto, what were you going to suggest?” Tosh stopped him with a hand on his arm, which she dropped quickly.
He opened his mouth, closed it again, and then put both hands on his hips. “Well, I wondered, if you wanted to be out of their way... my office has room to sit, but not to work...”
She smiled and rested her hand on his arm again, flexing her fingers gently against the fine wool. “I wouldn't mind the company.”
His smile was brief, but brilliant, and he nodded, more relaxed than she'd seen him in a long time. He led her a bit further on, to a larger office which was filled with boxes of paper with a desk and three chairs in the middle of it. Ianto had to clear boxes off one of the chairs so that she could sit down, though. “I'm sorry it's a mess,” he told her, sounding like he was regretting the invitation, “It's normally just me down here.”
She put the scanner down on top of a stack of boxes and looked around. “What are you doing down here?”
“Checking that all the files are on the system,” he sat down in the wooden chair behind the desk and folded his hands in front of him. “I'm having to cross reference all the file references to make sure that they all got put in in the 1990s, before the Archives got abandoned, and then check the ones that don't come up haven't been put in incorrectly, like someone put a 2 instead of a Z...” he trailed off and shuffled the papers in front of him. “It... it doesn't matter, really.”
“Future archivists will love you,” Tosh pointed out gently. “They'll worship you as a God. Now...” she cut him off. “I can either distract you, or help you with it. Which would you prefer?”
He smiled back at her. “We should probably do some work. Don't want Jack to get jealous, do we?”
Was that a joke? Tosh wondered, nodding cheerfully and pulling the 'to do' stack towards herself so that she could read out the file numbers for Ianto. Just since they'd been down here, he seemed to have brightened up. In fact, she'd seen him smile more since they came down here than she had in a fortnight. Was all it took a bit of companionship? Was he really that starved of it?
She watched him from behind her fringe as they sorted the pile into 'filed' and 'to do part 2'. The work didn't take much effort on either of their parts, so it gave her plenty of opportunity to consider the problem that was Ianto Jones and, in part, Jack Harkness. Ianto was wilting away in the darkness, starved of human contact and recognition. Jack was on a collision course with Gwen which would end in either them shagging or him firing her, neither of which he would forgive himself for. Maybe if his efforts were diverted, everyone would benefit?
Ianto coughed and she looked up at him, blinking through her fringe. He looked amused. “Is that report really that riveting, Tosh?”
She pushed it away and got the next one, not noticing the extremely familiar signature at the bottom. “Sorry, yes, it was. Weevils never change.”
He nodded and put the next code she read out for him into the computer, and she returned to plotting, determined not to get so distracted that the subject of her contemplation noticed this time.
Next chapter
