Dark Star: Chapter 9
Jun. 15th, 2010 12:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
galadriel1010Title: Dark Star
Chapter Title: Chapter 9
Challenge/Fest: CaseStory Big Bang
Rating: T
Dedication: Thanks to my wonderful artists, to everyone who's heard me rattle on about this, and to my brother for beta-ing.
Fandoms: Torchwood and Sherlock (BBC)
Summary: When Torchwood encounters an everyday case with far from everyday suspects, they need help they can trust. Fortunately, Ianto had an extraordinary flat mate when he was at university.
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, OCs. Jack/Ianto, mentions of Gwen/Rhys and Gwen/Owen
Contains:
Disclaimer: Torchwood and its environs, occurrences and persons belong to the BBC. The original characters have disowned me.
Ianto ran a brush over the toe of Jack's right boot one more time and set it down between the left one and his own dress shoes. Sherlock watched him from the other side of the island unit and smiled. “You know, it was your shoes that gave you away,” he said casually.
“My shoes?” Ianto asked with an air of resignation. “Do explain.”
“Your left shoe, actually.” Sherlock smirked over his steepled fingers. “Have you any idea...”
“No, Sherlock, I don't.” He crossed to the counter by the sink and pulled a drawer out roughly.
“You clean his shoes,” Sherlock explained. “You clean his shoes and put yours down next to them. Cleaning his shoes, that could be professional, and they could have been next to each other in the course of work, but for you to clean his shoes after yours were cleaned and put them down so close together that mud from Jack's uncleaned boot transfers to your clean shoe...” He spread his hands beatifically. “He must have been at your apartment after you got home from work and stayed the night.”
“If I tell you you're brilliant, will you promise not to do it again?”
Sherlock folded his hands in his lap. “You're cross with me.”
Ianto sighed and started running water into the sink to wash up. “Our colleagues didn't know.”
“So...” Sherlock frowned at him. “It would be rather hypocritical of Harper and Cooper to object.”
“Oh, is that still going on?” Ianto sighed and shook his head. He reached for the first coffee mug and dipped it in the water. “Besides... Jack's our boss and I...” He trailed off and shook the mug more violently than was needed to get rid of the excess water. “It doesn't matter.”
The doorbell rang, and in the silence that followed they heard Jack crossing the living room to get it and greeting the delivery. Ianto fetched a stack of plates from the cupboard and carried them through to the small table in the corner of the kitchen, retrieving another mat from the drawer underneath it and setting the plates out. Shirley Bassey crooned in the living room and Jack paused in the kitchen doorway, looking between the two of them. “Someone say something?” he asked with emphasised joviality. “Dinner's arrived, anyway.”
Ianto smiled at him whilst he set the chopsticks out and gestured to the table. “Well, let's eat, shall we? It won't stay hot.”
When he got to the point where he could see the end of the counter unit, Jack paused and frowned slightly, moving slower to set the bags down on the table. “Ianto, did you clean my boots again?”
“Yes.” He fetched a bowl and opened the bags of prawn crackers into it. “I was doing mine, did yours at the same time. Is that okay?”
Sighing, Jack smiled and sat down next to him, opposite Sherlock. “Thank you. You don't have to look after me, though.”
“You can kiss him, if you want to,” Sherlock told them, peering into a plastic container of chow mien. “I won't look.”
“Sherlock...” Ianto growled. “For God's sake, hasn't anyone housetrained you yet?”
He laughed at the idea. “Who'd live with me? They'd need the patience of a saint...”
“And the constitution of a goat,” Ianto added for him. “Are you still keeping body parts in the fridge?”
“Where else would I put them?” He asked innocently, but his eyes sparkled with amusement. “It seems to be taking Mrs Hudson some time to get used to.”
“Yes, about that...” Ianto speared a piece of water chestnut and waved it at him. “Hasn't your landlady kicked you out yet? You've been there nearly two months. Centre of London, she could have much cleaner tenants.”
“There's an interesting story there...” He glanced at Jack, his gaze dropping to the corner of the table, and smiled to himself. “It all started when I went to a conference in Las Vegas...”
Sherlock stayed in the kitchen watching Ianto wash up again, whilst Jack settled in the living room reading the paper. He rested his feet on the other seat and leaned back as far as he could without falling back. “There's another room in the flat in London,” he told the wall. “It's full of things at the moment, but I could clear it out.”
Ianto set the first plate on the drying rack and sighed. “What are you asking, Sherlock?”
“I need an assistant. Not enough people at the Yard will work with me, especially since Lestrade got promoted...” He scowled in thought. “It would be good to have someone around...”
“No.”
“What?” He swung around and planted his feet on the floor. “You always loved London, the rent is low for the location, you understand how I am.”
“I said no, Sherlock.” He carried on washing without looking around. “It was fun whilst it lasted, but I need to have a purpose. Besides, Torchwood needs me.”
“Torchwood doesn't need you,” he scoffed. “Everything you do one of the others could do easily. Your only purpose is to free them up to do other things. I need someone to talk to.”
Ianto tensed up and hunched his shoulders. “I know, comparative advantage and I am otherwise worthless. But at least they don't make me feel worthless like you always do. Jack at least pretends that he needs me around.”
“Jack just wants you around,” he corrected dismissively, “he doesn't need you at all.”
He sighed and shook his head. “That's enough for me. It's nice to be wanted. No, Sherlock,” he cut him off before he could speak again. “I like it here. I don't want to leave Torchwood. And I'm not willing to put up with you belittling me again; it couldn't last.”
“When do I belittle you?”
“Just now,” he snapped. “How else am I supposed to take you telling me that I only do the things I do because I'm not good enough at something else, and that my ideal purpose in life is to make you look intelligent?”
“I'm just...”
Ianto set the last plate on the drying rack and pulled the plug, striding from the room. “I'm just going to change.”
He got halfway across the living room, passing the back of the sofa, when Jack reached out to catch his arm and rubbed his thumb against the curve of his elbow. “Hey,” Jack leaned back to be able to look over the sofa at Ianto. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” He smiled and detached Jack's hand from his arm carefully. “Just... He's hard work.”
Jack smiled back and dropped his arm. “Okay. By the way, I'm glad you turned him down.”
Ianto stepped closer to touch Jack's cheek with the backs of two fingers, just for a moment. “I thought you would be.” He turned away again and headed for his bedroom. “Back in a minute.”
Tosh knocked gently on the last door and leaned close to it. “Ainii, I brought dinner. You must be hungry by now.”
The door opened a moment later and Ainii greeter her with a tired smile, widening the door further to let her in. “Thanks, Tosh. It's hard to know the passage of time down here.” She gestured into the room and her smile turned hopeful. “Have you got time to stay a while, or have you got to get back to work?”
“I can stay,” she said eagerly, then ducked her head as she realised how enthusiastic she sounded. “I'm sorry. We don't get to talk to a... non-humans often. I'll probably say the wrong thing a lot.”
“That's okay.” Ainii ushered her to a chair and flopped into the other one. “I don't see many humans, either. It's a shame, really. You all seem sort of... cool.”
Tosh laughed quietly and leaned forwards to unpack the bag of food. “We're not really. Always fighting amongst ourselves. Sometimes I think that the secrecy and the lies, it's all protecting other species from us.”
Ainii accepted a box of curry and rice and sniffed it cautiously, then accepted a fork and dug in. “You have good food, though,” she pointed out. “And I like Beethoven.”
“I prefer Vivaldi, myself.” Tosh smiled at her. “You listen to a lot of music?”
“Yeah, lots. There's not a lot else to do when you can't go outside during the day,” she sighed, stabbing her food listlessly. “I'd love to be able to go to a gig, browse through the CDs in a real shop... Just sit in the centre of Cardiff and eat ice cream. I love ice cream! We don't have it, you know? We have sort-of-milk, but it comes from a flower, and I don't think it freezes.”
“You have it now,” Tosh said softly. “I'd hate to be trapped indoors like that. I once... I was in prison, for a while. It wasn't nice.”
Ainii reached out sympathetically and patted Tosh's knee, which was all she could reach. “I'm sorry, Toshiko. And you mustn't see much of the world trapped down here, I suppose.”
“No, not really,” she agreed.
“You'll have to come to the Star sometimes,” Ainii suggested more cheerfully. “We'd love to see you there. I expect Grigo will inherit it, Atraxet saw him as a son. I might move in there with him,” she added shyly.
“Oh yes?”
“I have a good feeling about it,” she laughed. “But I'd love to open it up more. The gangs aren't allowed in, so they resent us. It would be so good to use it as a place to unite them, to stop the fighting. Don't you think?”
“Peace in our time?” Tosh smiled at her and nodded. “Sounds like a good aim to me.”
Next chapter
Chapter Title: Chapter 9
Challenge/Fest: CaseStory Big Bang
Rating: T
Dedication: Thanks to my wonderful artists, to everyone who's heard me rattle on about this, and to my brother for beta-ing.
Fandoms: Torchwood and Sherlock (BBC)
Summary: When Torchwood encounters an everyday case with far from everyday suspects, they need help they can trust. Fortunately, Ianto had an extraordinary flat mate when he was at university.
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, OCs. Jack/Ianto, mentions of Gwen/Rhys and Gwen/Owen
Contains:
Disclaimer: Torchwood and its environs, occurrences and persons belong to the BBC. The original characters have disowned me.
Ianto ran a brush over the toe of Jack's right boot one more time and set it down between the left one and his own dress shoes. Sherlock watched him from the other side of the island unit and smiled. “You know, it was your shoes that gave you away,” he said casually.
“My shoes?” Ianto asked with an air of resignation. “Do explain.”
“Your left shoe, actually.” Sherlock smirked over his steepled fingers. “Have you any idea...”
“No, Sherlock, I don't.” He crossed to the counter by the sink and pulled a drawer out roughly.
“You clean his shoes,” Sherlock explained. “You clean his shoes and put yours down next to them. Cleaning his shoes, that could be professional, and they could have been next to each other in the course of work, but for you to clean his shoes after yours were cleaned and put them down so close together that mud from Jack's uncleaned boot transfers to your clean shoe...” He spread his hands beatifically. “He must have been at your apartment after you got home from work and stayed the night.”
“If I tell you you're brilliant, will you promise not to do it again?”
Sherlock folded his hands in his lap. “You're cross with me.”
Ianto sighed and started running water into the sink to wash up. “Our colleagues didn't know.”
“So...” Sherlock frowned at him. “It would be rather hypocritical of Harper and Cooper to object.”
“Oh, is that still going on?” Ianto sighed and shook his head. He reached for the first coffee mug and dipped it in the water. “Besides... Jack's our boss and I...” He trailed off and shook the mug more violently than was needed to get rid of the excess water. “It doesn't matter.”
The doorbell rang, and in the silence that followed they heard Jack crossing the living room to get it and greeting the delivery. Ianto fetched a stack of plates from the cupboard and carried them through to the small table in the corner of the kitchen, retrieving another mat from the drawer underneath it and setting the plates out. Shirley Bassey crooned in the living room and Jack paused in the kitchen doorway, looking between the two of them. “Someone say something?” he asked with emphasised joviality. “Dinner's arrived, anyway.”
Ianto smiled at him whilst he set the chopsticks out and gestured to the table. “Well, let's eat, shall we? It won't stay hot.”
When he got to the point where he could see the end of the counter unit, Jack paused and frowned slightly, moving slower to set the bags down on the table. “Ianto, did you clean my boots again?”
“Yes.” He fetched a bowl and opened the bags of prawn crackers into it. “I was doing mine, did yours at the same time. Is that okay?”
Sighing, Jack smiled and sat down next to him, opposite Sherlock. “Thank you. You don't have to look after me, though.”
“You can kiss him, if you want to,” Sherlock told them, peering into a plastic container of chow mien. “I won't look.”
“Sherlock...” Ianto growled. “For God's sake, hasn't anyone housetrained you yet?”
He laughed at the idea. “Who'd live with me? They'd need the patience of a saint...”
“And the constitution of a goat,” Ianto added for him. “Are you still keeping body parts in the fridge?”
“Where else would I put them?” He asked innocently, but his eyes sparkled with amusement. “It seems to be taking Mrs Hudson some time to get used to.”
“Yes, about that...” Ianto speared a piece of water chestnut and waved it at him. “Hasn't your landlady kicked you out yet? You've been there nearly two months. Centre of London, she could have much cleaner tenants.”
“There's an interesting story there...” He glanced at Jack, his gaze dropping to the corner of the table, and smiled to himself. “It all started when I went to a conference in Las Vegas...”
Sherlock stayed in the kitchen watching Ianto wash up again, whilst Jack settled in the living room reading the paper. He rested his feet on the other seat and leaned back as far as he could without falling back. “There's another room in the flat in London,” he told the wall. “It's full of things at the moment, but I could clear it out.”
Ianto set the first plate on the drying rack and sighed. “What are you asking, Sherlock?”
“I need an assistant. Not enough people at the Yard will work with me, especially since Lestrade got promoted...” He scowled in thought. “It would be good to have someone around...”
“No.”
“What?” He swung around and planted his feet on the floor. “You always loved London, the rent is low for the location, you understand how I am.”
“I said no, Sherlock.” He carried on washing without looking around. “It was fun whilst it lasted, but I need to have a purpose. Besides, Torchwood needs me.”
“Torchwood doesn't need you,” he scoffed. “Everything you do one of the others could do easily. Your only purpose is to free them up to do other things. I need someone to talk to.”
Ianto tensed up and hunched his shoulders. “I know, comparative advantage and I am otherwise worthless. But at least they don't make me feel worthless like you always do. Jack at least pretends that he needs me around.”
“Jack just wants you around,” he corrected dismissively, “he doesn't need you at all.”
He sighed and shook his head. “That's enough for me. It's nice to be wanted. No, Sherlock,” he cut him off before he could speak again. “I like it here. I don't want to leave Torchwood. And I'm not willing to put up with you belittling me again; it couldn't last.”
“When do I belittle you?”
“Just now,” he snapped. “How else am I supposed to take you telling me that I only do the things I do because I'm not good enough at something else, and that my ideal purpose in life is to make you look intelligent?”
“I'm just...”
Ianto set the last plate on the drying rack and pulled the plug, striding from the room. “I'm just going to change.”
He got halfway across the living room, passing the back of the sofa, when Jack reached out to catch his arm and rubbed his thumb against the curve of his elbow. “Hey,” Jack leaned back to be able to look over the sofa at Ianto. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” He smiled and detached Jack's hand from his arm carefully. “Just... He's hard work.”
Jack smiled back and dropped his arm. “Okay. By the way, I'm glad you turned him down.”
Ianto stepped closer to touch Jack's cheek with the backs of two fingers, just for a moment. “I thought you would be.” He turned away again and headed for his bedroom. “Back in a minute.”
Tosh knocked gently on the last door and leaned close to it. “Ainii, I brought dinner. You must be hungry by now.”
The door opened a moment later and Ainii greeter her with a tired smile, widening the door further to let her in. “Thanks, Tosh. It's hard to know the passage of time down here.” She gestured into the room and her smile turned hopeful. “Have you got time to stay a while, or have you got to get back to work?”
“I can stay,” she said eagerly, then ducked her head as she realised how enthusiastic she sounded. “I'm sorry. We don't get to talk to a... non-humans often. I'll probably say the wrong thing a lot.”
“That's okay.” Ainii ushered her to a chair and flopped into the other one. “I don't see many humans, either. It's a shame, really. You all seem sort of... cool.”
Tosh laughed quietly and leaned forwards to unpack the bag of food. “We're not really. Always fighting amongst ourselves. Sometimes I think that the secrecy and the lies, it's all protecting other species from us.”
Ainii accepted a box of curry and rice and sniffed it cautiously, then accepted a fork and dug in. “You have good food, though,” she pointed out. “And I like Beethoven.”
“I prefer Vivaldi, myself.” Tosh smiled at her. “You listen to a lot of music?”
“Yeah, lots. There's not a lot else to do when you can't go outside during the day,” she sighed, stabbing her food listlessly. “I'd love to be able to go to a gig, browse through the CDs in a real shop... Just sit in the centre of Cardiff and eat ice cream. I love ice cream! We don't have it, you know? We have sort-of-milk, but it comes from a flower, and I don't think it freezes.”
“You have it now,” Tosh said softly. “I'd hate to be trapped indoors like that. I once... I was in prison, for a while. It wasn't nice.”
Ainii reached out sympathetically and patted Tosh's knee, which was all she could reach. “I'm sorry, Toshiko. And you mustn't see much of the world trapped down here, I suppose.”
“No, not really,” she agreed.
“You'll have to come to the Star sometimes,” Ainii suggested more cheerfully. “We'd love to see you there. I expect Grigo will inherit it, Atraxet saw him as a son. I might move in there with him,” she added shyly.
“Oh yes?”
“I have a good feeling about it,” she laughed. “But I'd love to open it up more. The gangs aren't allowed in, so they resent us. It would be so good to use it as a place to unite them, to stop the fighting. Don't you think?”
“Peace in our time?” Tosh smiled at her and nodded. “Sounds like a good aim to me.”
Next chapter
