Title: Lost in Waiting
Author:
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Word Count: 1200
Rating: PG
Summary: Four times Jack and Ianto didn’t go on a date, and one time they did.
Spoilers: “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”
It wasn’t that Jack thought Ianto wouldn’t have sex with him again until they’d gone on a date. He was fairly certain Ianto would have sex with him again if he just arched his eyebrow at him the right way. Hell, Ianto just had to look at him the right way and Jack would drop everything to be alone with him again.
But he’d made a promise. Okay, he’d implied a promise. But an implied promise was as good as a spoken one, and this was one promise he intended to keep.
Besides, how hard could it be? It was just dinner and a movie.
The First Day
Jack bought new clothes—a black shirt and trousers, which the clerk assured him was very stylish—and got a haircut, and picked up Ianto at his flat. “What do you think?” Jack said, holding out his arms and turning in a circle.
Ianto laughed. “You look like someone from this century, finally.”
“Hey!” Jack tried to look stern, but Ianto was smiling at him—and looking pretty delectable himself, in jeans and a dark green shirt that made his eyes look even more blue—and he relented and lightly kissed him. “Look what you make me do: I’m changing the habits of a lifetime.”
“I’m okay with that,” Ianto said and kissed him back. It was hard for Jack not to clutch Ianto to him and steer him back to the bedroom, but he resisted. Rewards were for later.
He kept an arm around Ianto as they walked to the SUV. Ianto raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re using it for a non-work related outing?”
“Gonna tell on me?” Jack retorted.
“Teasing,” Ianto said and kissed him before opening the passenger side door and climbing in. Jack shut the door for him and leaned against it, and Ianto rolled the window down. “What?”
“Kiss me again,” Jack said softly, and Ianto smiled and tenderly kissed him.
“That’s it until we’re in the theater,” he said primly, sitting back.
“I think we should go to the early show instead of the late,” said Jack and nearly ran around the SUV to get into the driver’s seat, and Ianto started laughing at him again.
Jack started the car and looked at Ianto a moment. They were really here, on their way, and maybe they would go to the early show and eat afterwards, and then—
And then Ianto’s mobile rang and the SUV’s phone buzzed, and Jack said, “No. No, dammit. I told them no calls until the world is ending.”
Ianto shrugged as he turned on his phone. “The world must be ending, then.”
Owen mocked Jack’s outfit when they got back to the Hub and the shoes were much harder to run in than his boots. But at least the world didn’t end.
The Second Day
“I think we called just as they were closing,” Ianto said as he entered the conference room, carrying a box of Chinese takeout. “You should have seen the dirty look the delivery boy gave me.” He put the box on the table and gave Jack the carton of rice.
“Did you give him a big tip?” Jack opened the carton and divided the rice between the two Styrofoam boxes Ianto set out next, one with sweet and sour pork and one with lemon chicken.
Ianto sounded almost offended. “Of course. Do you want noodles as well?”
“Yes, please.” He glanced at the computer screen: the black and red “Searching” box was still flashing. There was plenty of time to eat. An idea occurred to him and he said, “Hey. Ianto. Dinner.”
Ianto started to smile, then shook his head. “You still owe me a movie, and it’s in the office. It doesn’t count, I’m afraid.”
“Damn,” Jack said, meaning it.
The Third Day
Jack rebooked the reservations. He bought tickets for the movie in the morning, laid out his Date Clothes, and impressed upon Owen, Tosh and Gwen that they were not to call him or Ianto unless the world was ending, really, he meant it this time.
Unfortunately, in the course of the day Jack fell off a building and died. Afterwards he didn’t feel much like a date and Ianto felt like it even less.
They gave the movie tickets to Owen and Ianto stayed with Jack, who was content to lie in Ianto’s arms and listen to his heart beating: alive, alive, alive.
The Fourth Day
Ianto wore the dark blue suit with the waistcoat like he wanted to break Jack’s will and be ravished in a storage locker.
Jack held out until lunch before he cornered Ianto on the stairs and backed him up against the railing. “I’m going a little crazy.”
“You too, huh?” Ianto said and wrapped his arms around Jack’s neck. The kiss was so hungry and desperate and eager that Jack forgot himself, forgot the promise, forgot everything except Ianto’s soft lips—right up to the moment when Ianto pulled away. He was trembling and his face was flushed, and he tasted his lips, his eyes never leaving Jack’s face.
“I should go,” Jack said. “I should go—” He pointed vaguely in the direction of his office. “—do, um, something.”
“Yes,” Ianto said, “before I jump on you.”
“Promise?” said Jack.
Ianto gave him an exasperated look and pointed down the stairs with a firm, “Get back to work!”
The Fifth Day
“I don’t believe it,” Jack said.
“I know I’m reading this correctly,” said Toshiko, gesturing to her screen. “I’d say we’re in for at least six hours of quiet.”
“Wow,” Jack said. He peered at the rift monitor program. It wasn’t just wishful thinking: the next disturbance wouldn’t begin until about seven a.m. “Okay, then, team,” he said, “go home. Get some sleep, go out to eat, do–” He flapped his hands at them. “Whatever. See you in the morning.”
Owen and Tosh, he was amused to notice, couldn’t get out fast enough. Gwen said, “Are you sure you want to be here alone tonight, Jack?” and Jack laughed.
“I’ll be fine. And Ianto’s around here somewhere, so I’m hardly alone.”
“In the archives, I think,” Gwen said, pulling on her jacket. “Good night, Jack.”
“Good night,” he said, waving her on, and tapped his earpiece. “Ianto!”
His voice came through crisply. “Captain?”
“Whatever you’re doing, stop. Go home. We’re looking at about six hours of quiet and I want you all to take advantage of it.”
“That’s very generous,” Ianto said, and Jack could hear his footsteps on the stairs. He looked up to see Ianto leaning over the balustrade. “What are you doing tonight?”
Jack smiled slowly. “Absolutely nothing.”
Ianto looked at his watch. “It’s too late for a late movie and most of the restaurants are closed.”
“There’s lots of other things we can do,” Jack said, and almost asked him if he had the stopwatch—but, no. No sex until the date. He’d promised.
“But,” Ianto said thoughtfully, “I have a new DVD I haven’t watched and we can pick up something on the way to my flat.”
“Oh,” Jack said, and then perked with an understanding, “Oh. That sounds like a very good idea.”
“I’m not just eye candy,” Ianto said. “I’ll get my coat.”
End.