[for Ianto]

[more_flexible]

When things went badly and when Jack couldn't cope, he fell back on old habits. He'd been smoking pot since he'd left Dale's and taken his shower. He was clean and shaven, but he hadn't been anything but completely baked for hours now. For a long time he'd just laid stil in the field, smoking and watching the clouds drift by. As the sky began to darken, it took on the color he'd only seen in those Technicolor films and one thing broke through the haze of his brain and latched on firmly. West Side Story. Right, as if a boy yelled Maria in Spanish Harlem and only one girl came out. Ha! It'd be like yelling for Ianto in Cardiff. There had to be hundreds of Iantos in just the downtown area.

Ianto. West Side Story. Somehow they melted together into one stunningly brilliant idea and Jack hefted himself up, looked around, and started off in the direction of Ianto's hut...since he knew where it was and wasn't entirely sure how to get to Greg from here. Right. He'd go see Ianto. Ianto would know where he lived. Maybe he'd even sing...see how many Ianto's appeared.


"Ianto! I've just kissed a boy named Ianto, and suddenly I've found how wonderful a sound can be! Ianto! Say it loud and there's music playing say it soft and it's almost like praying. Ianto...Ianto, Ianto, Ianto..."

Comments

[coffee_sir]

The singular Ianto on the island was, at that moment, involved in some terribly important business. It mainly involved holding Daniel's hands above his head as Ianto straddled his hips, as well as sucking at the spot where Daniel's neck met his shoulder. He stopped with a blink when something other than the sounds his boyfriend was making filtered through his ears.

"...Do you hear?" he asked, confused as he pulled away.

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

Daniel did hear, but as far as he was concerned, if whoever it was wasn't actually coming in, he didn't have to pay attention. He flexed his hands, arched his hips up, and caught Ianto's lips in a firm kiss. If Daniel wasn't allowed to focus on anything but Ianto, Ianto wasn't allowed to focus on anything but Daniel.

[coffee_sir]

The grunt of Ianto's reaction was muffled by the kiss, and for a second he considered ignoring the singing. Except it was getting louder. Or closer rather. And he swore he knew the voice. He groaned softly in frustration as he pulled away from Daniel again and sat up on knees. "...I think that's Jack," he said, half-horrified, half-confused.

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

Daniel groaned himself and relaxed back onto the bed. "Please tell me you're..." He trailed off, hearing the words to whatever song that Jack was singing. It definitely was Jack. And there was something else. "Is that your name?" Daniel asked in disbelief. "He's serenading you?" He looked up at Ianto, completely baffled and more than slightly perturbed.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Ianto!" Jack called, the footfalls onto the porch heavy and clumsy. "Are you home? I--an--toooo," he sang. "Ianto, Ianto, Ian--" then he fell, hard, ass first, then head bouncing off the wood. "--Ow."

[coffee_sir]

Ianto cocked his head slightly to the side, giving Daniel a look that said both 'Don't start that again' and 'Don't be a twat' in a rather succinct two second glance.

And then he heard the sound of a body and a head each meeting a solid object.

"Damn," he muttered to himself, releasing Daniel and getting up off the bed. "He must be high. I'll check on him."

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"It wasn't my name he was singing," Daniel muttered, getting up and trying to avoid the look. It didn't work and he gave a long sigh. "I'll help. Two will be able to move him around more than just the one. At least he's on light stuff. Probably."

He didn't want to think about what it would be like if Jack had gotten his hands on some of the harder stuff on the island.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Light stuff wasn't what Jack even bothered with. He only smoked the shit from the other side of the mountain that he gathered for House, and about now...he was boneless.

"Maria," he continued to sing. "There's no women here named Maria..."

Then he broke out into laughter. "Ianto! Please be home! I threw up on your boyfriend."

[coffee_sir]

Ianto shook his head. "No, it's.." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, trying to make it look as if he hadn't just been at the beginning of a long, leisurely night in bed with Daniel.

"He only gets this way when something upsetting's happened. Really upsetting. I should talk--" The pause between words was lengthened so that whatever Jack was shouting wouldn't run over Ianto's words, and he blinked at Daniel before continuing. "--to him. I'll let you know if we need help."

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"He threw up near me," Daniel clarified. "Not actually on me."

He tensed. It shouldn't bother him, but it did and he nodded shortly and sat back on the bed. "Well, you'll know where I'll be." Where Daniel had expected Ianto to be not five minutes ago. And of course it had to be Jack that interrupted them.

[coffee_sir]

"I'm sorry," Ianto said immediately, stepping forward and kissing Daniel softly. He pulled back and looked for a moment as if he were going to say something further, explain himself somehow. But it was more than a little impossible to explain in the time allotted, especially when he had one stoned time agent outside his hut.

"Sorry," he said again, and then walked for the door.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack laid on the porch, the evening light fading fast. They called this the gloaming, when magic was possible. Maybe if he closed his eyes and wasn't spinning and falling so damn fast, maybe magic would take over and he could stop thinking.

"Night and day, you are the onnnnnne..."

[coffee_sir]

Grabbing one of the gourds full of water that they kept handy on his way through the main room, Ianto opened the front door and stepped outside. "Special occasion I'm not aware of?" he asked pleasantly, sitting down on the ground beside Jack. "Is there some reason I'm being treated to a serenade tonight?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Ianto," he drawled with a smile, unable to sit up. "I didn't know you were here. Can you believe...I forgot where I live? It's a hut, and Greg's there," he said as he looked at Ianto with eyes glassy and half closed.

[coffee_sir]

"I'm sure you know," Ianto replied, deftly plucking the joint from Jack's hand and snubbing it out. "You're just so busy trying to forget something else, you've forgotten that instead."

Setting the joint aside, he shifted to his knees and held his hands out for Jack to take. "Think you can try to sit up?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"You took my..." he replied, looking as shocked as he could, which wasn't much. "Sit up? Yeah, I can."

He did, slowly and with effort, but he did, leaning back agains tthe wall next to the door. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not trying to forget anything. Nothing to forget. Just a regular Sunday, like any other day a year later," he said, latting his head loll to the side until he could look at the man.

"You take care of me," he smiled. "I don't know why. I'm not your man, Ianto. I mean, not the one in the film. Never asked to be in your life. I never asked for any of it. Not you or them, never asked for anything. I just want to go back before it all. Before the baby. Before he raped me. Before the Doctor. I just..." he sighed. "I just can't think of where I live."

[coffee_sir]

This was how it would usually go. Jack would ramble on until Ianto's brain caught on some word or phrase of importance. It wasn't too difficult to pick out the important word in that ramble.

"But you can't go back, Jack," he said gently, sitting back down on his legs, looking at the other man sympathetically now. "You're stuck with us. With me taking care of you. With House. With everyone else who cares about you. What's wrong with where you live?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Nothing," he replied, exasperated. Shaking his head, Jack closed his eyes and let the rocking motion take over his whole body for a minute. "I can't let Greg see me like this. Since Friday, I've been a mess. Went to the jungle, went to Dale. Gotta face it someday, but I can't. I can't face it. I can't even go in the caves and I tried," he rattled off, his voice growing soft and raw.

[coffee_sir]

"Jack," he said softly, reaching out to place a hand on the other man's knee. "Jack, maybe you're just not ready. There's nothing wrong with that. You can face it. I know you can," he said, the absolute faith in that clear in his voice. "But it doesn't have to be today. ...Have you talked to Catherine?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"It's been a year he replied, pain cracking his voice. "A year, and he's dead. And I still can't be in the dark. Still can't...I can't." He was struggling, turning his face away. "It should be getting better."

[coffee_sir]

"A year doesn't mean anything, Jack," Ianto said, keeping his voice calm, his tone soothing, but there was the slightest hint of struggle as well, of wanting badly to help. "It's just a space of time. No more important than a week or a month or fifteen. And hiding with this, hiding from House, isn't going to help you get better. Have you been seeing Catherine?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. Catherine. Yeah," he nodded. "We talk. We talk and talk and I try. Most of the time I'm fine, but after Daniel," he said, raising his hand to cover his face, "all I can think of is his knife in my leg, the rope and the dark and the smoke and the rum. God, I can't make it stop. I love you and I'll do anything for you, Ianto, but that wasn't how I should have...the things I used to be okay with...I can't. I can't."

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

Daniel froze and made an involuntary noise. He wasn't sure what he was reacting to, exactly. The talk of Jack being tortured or Jack saying that he loved Ianto. He'd called Jack a hypocrite and now he realized he was right. And that he didn't want to be right.

A part of him felt guilty eavesdropping. But the other part clearly thought that there was no other way to get the information that he so desperately needed to make things right. In his own mind, if nothing else.

[coffee_sir]

Ianto stared wide eyed at Jack for a long moment. "Jesus, Jack," he breathed, feeling as though something inside him was breaking along with Jack. The one thing, this one thing, and it had to have this effect. It had to hurt Jack this much. If he had known...

Carefully Ianto tugged Jack's hand away from his face, using his other hand to cradle the other man's cheek. "You shouldn't have then. This is why I said I didn't want anything of you, wouldn't ask anything of you. I don't want you hurting any more than you already do. I'm sorry."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He turned his face into the touch, smiling a little. It was so hard to keep his eyes open, but it had been hard for a while now.

"Your hands feel good," he murmured, leaning into the touch. "Like when you touch me. Knew if I came here I'd be okay. Dale made me coffee, you know. You and Dale never ask anything from me. You're both so nice. I'd fight the whole galaxy to make you happy, Ianto. Don't be sorry. You have Daniel adn you love him and if you're happy...that's all that matters, baby," he smiled, reaching up, slow and clumsy, catching the back of the man's neck.