Timelord!Ianto: Change 4
Jul. 11th, 2011 12:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
galadriel1010Title: Trials of a Timelord
Chapter Title: Change of Place 4
Challenge/Fest: LongLiveIanto Bingo
Prompt: Physical Transformation
Rating: T
Dedication:
Summary: After Suzie's death, Jack turns to Ianto for comfort.
Characters: Jack and Ianto
Contains: Discussion of sexual body parts. No sex.
Disclaimer: Torchwood and its environs, occurrences and persons belong to the BBC. The original characters have disowned me.
Ianto leaned forwards over his balcony and called out to Jack, who looked up at him in surprise. The feeling was very mutual. “Jack, what are you doing here?”
“I just took Cooper home.” He tucked his hands into the pockets of his coat and shrugged. “Can I come up?”
“Sure. I'll let you in.” He hurried across his flat and activated the door lock below, then slipped onto the landing to wait for Jack coming up the stairs. “I wasn't expecting to see you again today.”
Jack bounded up the last flight of stairs and hugged Ianto tightly, sighing into his hair when Ianto returned the hug. “I didn't want to be on my own. You're the sanest person in this city.”
Ianto stepped back from him, but only to take his hand and tug him into his flat, closing the door behind them and leading him to the sofa. “It's strange how the world can change in a day,” he commented as they sat down. “I never imagined... Suzie, of all people.”
“Yeah.” Jack rested his head against Ianto's and turned towards him so that his nose brushed against Ianto's cheek. “Or the others, for that matter. I had half a mind to stick Owen in the cells when I found out...”
“He didn't know what he was doing,” Ianto pointed out calmly, scratching at Jack's scalp with blunt nails. When Jack just grunted he conceded, “He's an idiot, but not a malicious one.”
“I feel like the idiot now,” Jack grumbled, pulling away from Ianto to rub his face. “Why did I not see what it was doing to her? Why did I let her...” He cut off when Ianto rubbed his shoulder. “It always goes wrong in the end. I hoped, after Alex...”
“I know. It's this job, this life... but someone has to do it.”
Jack turned to him again, looking exhausted. “It's been a long night; I should go home. Well, back to the Hub.”
“That's no place to go when you're like this,” Ianto reached for him again ad rubbed his arm. “Stay here, for a while at least. Get some sleep and we'll order in.” Jack dropped his gaze to Ianto's hand and he pressed his point. “Better than going back to the Hub and its ghosts.”
Jack hesitated, but eventually he nodded and let Ianto pull him back onto the sofa and into his arms. He snuggled close, twisting his fingers in Ianto's shirt and pressing his forehead against Ianto's shoulder. “I'm going to miss her.”
Ianto combed his fingers through Jack's hair in a gesture that mirrored Jack's not so long ago when it had been Ianto in need of comfort. Just as it had that day, late morning sunshine reflected off the water into the neat flat and the open doors allowed the sound of water under the boardwalk in with a light breeze. He drifted his fingers up the curve of Jack's skull, rubbing with his fingertips now, until he felt his hair matted and sticky. Jack flinched but otherwise held still, holding tightly onto Ianto's other arm with one hand.
“Jack...” He probed at the back of Jack's head firmly and found it sound. “Did Suzie hit you?”
“She...” Jack drew in a deep breath and turned to face him, pulling his hand away and holding it in his own. “She shot me. She didn't hit me, she shot me in the head. That's why I asked you to deal with Cooper, so you wouldn't...” He swallowed again and Ianto squeezed his hand in shocked reassurance. “That's why I've been with Torchwood for so long. I die, and then I get up again.”
“That's not possible,” he breathed. “You can't die and come back. Not even the Timelords can come back like that.”
Jack shrugged, looking thoroughly worn down, and summoned up a weak smile. “I faced down Daleks and got back up. As far as I know I wasn't immortal before then, but I can't be certain. I'd never died before, after all. I was buying time for the Doctor, and he left me behind. I still...” He closed his eyes and leaned forwards, towards Ianto. “I need to know why. That's why I came to Cardiff, because he stops to refuel here and I'm hoping to catch him and find out what happened and why I can't die.”
“Do you want to die?” Ianto asked softly. “If you could, would you?”
“I just want the choice.” Jack looked up at him, exhaustion deep in his eyes in a way that Ianto had never seen it before. “Can you fix me?”
Ianto leaned forwards and pressed his lips to Jack's forehead, feeling Jack's arms come around his waist again and returning the hug. “I'm sorry,” he whispered. “You're a fixed point, and there's nothing I can do.” Jack's head dropped and Ianto cupped his face to make him meet his eyes. “But you won't have to do it alone now.”
Jack's arms were still looped around his waist, and he tightened his grip momentarily. “You neither.”
“Me neither,” Ianto agreed. He combed his fingers into Jack's hair once more and pushed him away gently. “Go and have a shower, and then you can have a lie down and sleep it off.”
“Okay.” Jack unfolded from the sofa and bent down to kiss Ianto's cheek. “Thank you for being here.”
Ianto watched him go and then got up to tidy his bedroom. He never used it except as somewhere to sit when the living room was too bright, and the bed wasn't even made up. It didn't take very long for him to find the covers and make the bed, and then to stack the scattered books in a pile next to the bookcase. By the time Jack emerged from the bathroom, bare-chested and towelling his hair dry, Ianto had set the room nearly to rights and was ready to tug him in there and push him towards the bed. “Sleep,” he instructed firmly, when Jack protested. “Or close your eyes, or whatever it is you do. It'll do you the world of good.”
“Will you stay?” Jack asked, hovering by the end of the bed.
“You need a hug?”
“I...” he started, and then laughed. “Yeah, I need a hug. I guess I'm still not ready to be alone.”
“What's funny?” Ianto shucked his shoes and started removing his shirt.
“I still expect things to be complicated or awkward.” Jack sat down and swung his legs up onto the bed, tucking his feet under the folded -back duvet. “But you never are, are you?”
“Well, I try.” He slid into bed, tugged the duvet up and offered his arm. “Hug?”
Jack curled up to him and rested his head on his upper arm. “I haven't felt like this in so long.”
Ianto hummed and hugged him tight with the one arm wrapped around his shoulder. “Felt like what?”
“Like...” Jack sighed and snuggled even closer. “Content, that's all.”
Jack, contrary to his previous assertions, fell asleep quickly. Somehow he curled even closer asleep than he had awake, and Ianto watched his face relax into a smile with a surge of protectiveness and affection. Although he didn't need to sleep, he let himself drift off on the wave of warm emotion, resting his cheek against Jack's forehead as he did so.
Some hours later a seagull outside the window woke them, and Ianto ran his hand down Jack's arm soothingly when he tensed up. “Just a gull,” he muttered. Something hard pressed into his hip and he shifted to move it. “Is that your phone?”
Jack rolled onto his back immediately and let his arm fall behind him on the pillow. “Not my mobile.” He shrugged one shoulder and glanced at Ianto. “It's nothing.”
“You have an erection.” Ianto rolled his eyes at Jack's perturbed expression. “I know human physiology, and I watched some of your porn films...”
“My porn films?”
“Your species' porn films,” he corrected, propping himself up on his elbow. “But I've never experienced one, so I didn't know what to expect. Do you need to deal with it or...”
Jack covered his eyes with one hand and laughed. “This conversation is doing the trick, don't worry.” He lifted it to peer at Ianto. “You have really never had an erection?”
“I didn't even have genitals in my last body,” he explained with a huff. “Brendan must have rubbed off on me. Not like that! Just... if we spend a lot of time in the company of a certain species then we regenerate to fit in with them better. Nothing major, really, but genitalia, skin and hair tone, voice and digestive system are easy to adapt.”
“I see...” Jack sought out Ianto's hand with his own and laced their fingers together. “So if you didn't have genitals, how would you reproduce? Or does that come when you've been with someone for a regeneration?”
“We are born from the Looms,” he explained. “The Curse of Pythia rendered all of my people sterile, and Rasillion developed the Looms to produce cousins when we couldn't. There doesn't seem to be much point to genitalia when it doesn't do anything, so I was born fully grown and without them. It was... a source of mockery for my guards in London.”
Jack rolled back to face him and pressed his other hand to Ianto's chest, between his hearts. “It wouldn't have bothered me,” he assured him. “I'd still be here. Does my dick bother you?”
Ianto gave a startled laugh and squeezed Jack's hand that was still in his. “Your dick doesn't bother me, no. I don't want anything to do with it, though, except in that it's attached to your lovely self.” He batted his eyelashes to take the potential sting out of the statement.
It was unnecessary but beneficial, as Jack laughed and kissed his shoulder. “Don't worry. I find sex with people who aren't enjoying it as least as much as I am to be a massive turn-off, you're perfectly safe from me.”
“Jack Harkness has turn-offs; who knew?” He ran his fingers through Jack's hair and brushed his cheek with his thumb. “This is going to be a bit weird for you though.”
Jack looked defensive, but tried to hide it behind mock affront. “I have lots of friends I'm not shagging, actually.”
“I'm sure you do, but you're not attracted to them and you don't share a bed with them,” he pointed out. Jack was silent and watched Ianto with worried eyes. “If it gets weird, you will say something, won't you?”
“When have I ever had a problem saying things to you?” Jack smiled fondly again and pulled Ianto over for another hug. He settled down as comfortably as he could and relaxed against Jack, flattening a palm on his stomach and finally managing to drag the other arm from between them. Jack's fingers combed through his hair and he sighed. “I'm going to have to go back to the Hub soon. Owen's coming in to autopsy...”
“I know.” Ianto sat up again and started to move. Their much needed downtime was over, and work called again. “I'll come with you.”
Jack reached for his trousers, dropped by the side of the bed, and stood up to pull them on, then passed Ianto on his way to the door and rested his hand on his shoulder for a moment. “Thank you. I don't know what I would have done without you today.”
He smiled back and carried on fastening his shirt buttons. “When you need to stop, or any time, really... you're always welcome here.”
“My hero.” Jack went in search of his abandoned shirt, and left Ianto chuckling as he finished fastening his own and reached for a tie.
Next chapter
Chapter Title: Change of Place 4
Challenge/Fest: LongLiveIanto Bingo
Prompt: Physical Transformation
Rating: T
Dedication:
Summary: After Suzie's death, Jack turns to Ianto for comfort.
Characters: Jack and Ianto
Contains: Discussion of sexual body parts. No sex.
Disclaimer: Torchwood and its environs, occurrences and persons belong to the BBC. The original characters have disowned me.
Ianto leaned forwards over his balcony and called out to Jack, who looked up at him in surprise. The feeling was very mutual. “Jack, what are you doing here?”
“I just took Cooper home.” He tucked his hands into the pockets of his coat and shrugged. “Can I come up?”
“Sure. I'll let you in.” He hurried across his flat and activated the door lock below, then slipped onto the landing to wait for Jack coming up the stairs. “I wasn't expecting to see you again today.”
Jack bounded up the last flight of stairs and hugged Ianto tightly, sighing into his hair when Ianto returned the hug. “I didn't want to be on my own. You're the sanest person in this city.”
Ianto stepped back from him, but only to take his hand and tug him into his flat, closing the door behind them and leading him to the sofa. “It's strange how the world can change in a day,” he commented as they sat down. “I never imagined... Suzie, of all people.”
“Yeah.” Jack rested his head against Ianto's and turned towards him so that his nose brushed against Ianto's cheek. “Or the others, for that matter. I had half a mind to stick Owen in the cells when I found out...”
“He didn't know what he was doing,” Ianto pointed out calmly, scratching at Jack's scalp with blunt nails. When Jack just grunted he conceded, “He's an idiot, but not a malicious one.”
“I feel like the idiot now,” Jack grumbled, pulling away from Ianto to rub his face. “Why did I not see what it was doing to her? Why did I let her...” He cut off when Ianto rubbed his shoulder. “It always goes wrong in the end. I hoped, after Alex...”
“I know. It's this job, this life... but someone has to do it.”
Jack turned to him again, looking exhausted. “It's been a long night; I should go home. Well, back to the Hub.”
“That's no place to go when you're like this,” Ianto reached for him again ad rubbed his arm. “Stay here, for a while at least. Get some sleep and we'll order in.” Jack dropped his gaze to Ianto's hand and he pressed his point. “Better than going back to the Hub and its ghosts.”
Jack hesitated, but eventually he nodded and let Ianto pull him back onto the sofa and into his arms. He snuggled close, twisting his fingers in Ianto's shirt and pressing his forehead against Ianto's shoulder. “I'm going to miss her.”
Ianto combed his fingers through Jack's hair in a gesture that mirrored Jack's not so long ago when it had been Ianto in need of comfort. Just as it had that day, late morning sunshine reflected off the water into the neat flat and the open doors allowed the sound of water under the boardwalk in with a light breeze. He drifted his fingers up the curve of Jack's skull, rubbing with his fingertips now, until he felt his hair matted and sticky. Jack flinched but otherwise held still, holding tightly onto Ianto's other arm with one hand.
“Jack...” He probed at the back of Jack's head firmly and found it sound. “Did Suzie hit you?”
“She...” Jack drew in a deep breath and turned to face him, pulling his hand away and holding it in his own. “She shot me. She didn't hit me, she shot me in the head. That's why I asked you to deal with Cooper, so you wouldn't...” He swallowed again and Ianto squeezed his hand in shocked reassurance. “That's why I've been with Torchwood for so long. I die, and then I get up again.”
“That's not possible,” he breathed. “You can't die and come back. Not even the Timelords can come back like that.”
Jack shrugged, looking thoroughly worn down, and summoned up a weak smile. “I faced down Daleks and got back up. As far as I know I wasn't immortal before then, but I can't be certain. I'd never died before, after all. I was buying time for the Doctor, and he left me behind. I still...” He closed his eyes and leaned forwards, towards Ianto. “I need to know why. That's why I came to Cardiff, because he stops to refuel here and I'm hoping to catch him and find out what happened and why I can't die.”
“Do you want to die?” Ianto asked softly. “If you could, would you?”
“I just want the choice.” Jack looked up at him, exhaustion deep in his eyes in a way that Ianto had never seen it before. “Can you fix me?”
Ianto leaned forwards and pressed his lips to Jack's forehead, feeling Jack's arms come around his waist again and returning the hug. “I'm sorry,” he whispered. “You're a fixed point, and there's nothing I can do.” Jack's head dropped and Ianto cupped his face to make him meet his eyes. “But you won't have to do it alone now.”
Jack's arms were still looped around his waist, and he tightened his grip momentarily. “You neither.”
“Me neither,” Ianto agreed. He combed his fingers into Jack's hair once more and pushed him away gently. “Go and have a shower, and then you can have a lie down and sleep it off.”
“Okay.” Jack unfolded from the sofa and bent down to kiss Ianto's cheek. “Thank you for being here.”
Ianto watched him go and then got up to tidy his bedroom. He never used it except as somewhere to sit when the living room was too bright, and the bed wasn't even made up. It didn't take very long for him to find the covers and make the bed, and then to stack the scattered books in a pile next to the bookcase. By the time Jack emerged from the bathroom, bare-chested and towelling his hair dry, Ianto had set the room nearly to rights and was ready to tug him in there and push him towards the bed. “Sleep,” he instructed firmly, when Jack protested. “Or close your eyes, or whatever it is you do. It'll do you the world of good.”
“Will you stay?” Jack asked, hovering by the end of the bed.
“You need a hug?”
“I...” he started, and then laughed. “Yeah, I need a hug. I guess I'm still not ready to be alone.”
“What's funny?” Ianto shucked his shoes and started removing his shirt.
“I still expect things to be complicated or awkward.” Jack sat down and swung his legs up onto the bed, tucking his feet under the folded -back duvet. “But you never are, are you?”
“Well, I try.” He slid into bed, tugged the duvet up and offered his arm. “Hug?”
Jack curled up to him and rested his head on his upper arm. “I haven't felt like this in so long.”
Ianto hummed and hugged him tight with the one arm wrapped around his shoulder. “Felt like what?”
“Like...” Jack sighed and snuggled even closer. “Content, that's all.”
Jack, contrary to his previous assertions, fell asleep quickly. Somehow he curled even closer asleep than he had awake, and Ianto watched his face relax into a smile with a surge of protectiveness and affection. Although he didn't need to sleep, he let himself drift off on the wave of warm emotion, resting his cheek against Jack's forehead as he did so.
Some hours later a seagull outside the window woke them, and Ianto ran his hand down Jack's arm soothingly when he tensed up. “Just a gull,” he muttered. Something hard pressed into his hip and he shifted to move it. “Is that your phone?”
Jack rolled onto his back immediately and let his arm fall behind him on the pillow. “Not my mobile.” He shrugged one shoulder and glanced at Ianto. “It's nothing.”
“You have an erection.” Ianto rolled his eyes at Jack's perturbed expression. “I know human physiology, and I watched some of your porn films...”
“My porn films?”
“Your species' porn films,” he corrected, propping himself up on his elbow. “But I've never experienced one, so I didn't know what to expect. Do you need to deal with it or...”
Jack covered his eyes with one hand and laughed. “This conversation is doing the trick, don't worry.” He lifted it to peer at Ianto. “You have really never had an erection?”
“I didn't even have genitals in my last body,” he explained with a huff. “Brendan must have rubbed off on me. Not like that! Just... if we spend a lot of time in the company of a certain species then we regenerate to fit in with them better. Nothing major, really, but genitalia, skin and hair tone, voice and digestive system are easy to adapt.”
“I see...” Jack sought out Ianto's hand with his own and laced their fingers together. “So if you didn't have genitals, how would you reproduce? Or does that come when you've been with someone for a regeneration?”
“We are born from the Looms,” he explained. “The Curse of Pythia rendered all of my people sterile, and Rasillion developed the Looms to produce cousins when we couldn't. There doesn't seem to be much point to genitalia when it doesn't do anything, so I was born fully grown and without them. It was... a source of mockery for my guards in London.”
Jack rolled back to face him and pressed his other hand to Ianto's chest, between his hearts. “It wouldn't have bothered me,” he assured him. “I'd still be here. Does my dick bother you?”
Ianto gave a startled laugh and squeezed Jack's hand that was still in his. “Your dick doesn't bother me, no. I don't want anything to do with it, though, except in that it's attached to your lovely self.” He batted his eyelashes to take the potential sting out of the statement.
It was unnecessary but beneficial, as Jack laughed and kissed his shoulder. “Don't worry. I find sex with people who aren't enjoying it as least as much as I am to be a massive turn-off, you're perfectly safe from me.”
“Jack Harkness has turn-offs; who knew?” He ran his fingers through Jack's hair and brushed his cheek with his thumb. “This is going to be a bit weird for you though.”
Jack looked defensive, but tried to hide it behind mock affront. “I have lots of friends I'm not shagging, actually.”
“I'm sure you do, but you're not attracted to them and you don't share a bed with them,” he pointed out. Jack was silent and watched Ianto with worried eyes. “If it gets weird, you will say something, won't you?”
“When have I ever had a problem saying things to you?” Jack smiled fondly again and pulled Ianto over for another hug. He settled down as comfortably as he could and relaxed against Jack, flattening a palm on his stomach and finally managing to drag the other arm from between them. Jack's fingers combed through his hair and he sighed. “I'm going to have to go back to the Hub soon. Owen's coming in to autopsy...”
“I know.” Ianto sat up again and started to move. Their much needed downtime was over, and work called again. “I'll come with you.”
Jack reached for his trousers, dropped by the side of the bed, and stood up to pull them on, then passed Ianto on his way to the door and rested his hand on his shoulder for a moment. “Thank you. I don't know what I would have done without you today.”
He smiled back and carried on fastening his shirt buttons. “When you need to stop, or any time, really... you're always welcome here.”
“My hero.” Jack went in search of his abandoned shirt, and left Ianto chuckling as he finished fastening his own and reached for a tie.
Next chapter
