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Fandomweekly Challenge 187 - In the thick of things
Title: In the thick of things
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Owen
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG.
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: Minor spoilers for book “Pack Animals”
Author notes: Written for Challenge 187 - Bad judgement at![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomweekly
Summary: Jack should know better than to think he can protect Ianto in the face of danger.
The zoo was still on chaos even as the team were making their hasty exit, if only to avoid that obnoxious BBC reporter who'd been haranguing Jack, but who now appeared to be in a whole lot of trouble with the police thanks to Ianto, Jack's invisible hero, who couldn't be blamed for the police officer suddenly having their legs kicked out from under them, just feet from where the BBC man has been standing. Served David Brigstocke right, in Jack's opinion.
A flock of brightly coloured parrots flew over their heads. Not your usual Cardiff residents, Jack observed. Just a few more of the animals that had managed to escape in the confusion and the strange men in grey boiler suits with the word Achenbrite stitched over the top pockets who seemed to be at the heart of all the disruption. There’d be time to worry about them, and how they’d come to ruin Jack and Ianto’s date, later.
Jack felt his wheelchair being propelled faster up the path toward the carpark and the SUV, forcing Owen to keep up with it until it came to an abrupt stop. ‘What are we stopping for?’ The sooner they got back to the hub and got Jack on some decent painkillers, the better.
There was an audible hiss from the invisible wheelchair pusher. ‘Just my hand,’ Ianto replied. ‘It really hurts. And I stink of tiger shit.’
Jack arched both eyebrows and then gestured down at his leg hidden under the paramedics blanket, hanging on by a few sinews at the ankle and not much more. It was still stinging like hell and leaving a small trail of blood spatter behind them. ‘Your hand hurts?’ Jack asked incredulously. ‘And you think this doesn't?’
The invisible apology came by way of Ianto leaning over the back of Jack's chair and planting a kiss in his hair. Admittedly, Ianto did stink this close up. He was never this affectionate when Owen could see them. At least there had to be some small concession to Ianto's sudden transparency. ‘What happened to your hand?’ Jack asked, wishing he could have had Owen check it out in case Ianto was downplaying the injury, as he almost always did.
‘I think I burned it pretty badly when I grabbed that piece of alien tech.’
Jack tutted. ‘Didn't I tell you not to touch things?’
‘You tell me not to do things all the time. That doesn't mean I always listen to you.’
Jack bit back his annoyance. ‘Maybe you should listen more often.’
‘I was only trying to help Walter and his wife,’ he retorted, before the sickening truth of it hit them both. ‘Walter’s dead, isn't he?’
‘I dunno,’ Jack said, genuinely unsure. ‘But, yeah, probably.’ One moment the old man had been chastising Ianto for being caught up in the moment, joking and using bad language around children, and then the next his lovely wife of seventy years had interceded and told them to simply enjoy being in love, wandering away with her husband, holding hands just and Jack and Ianto had been on their date. Now poor Walter's wife was going to have to let him go. They'd never hold hands together ever again.
‘I should have gotten to them sooner,’ Ianto said, sounding as despondent as Jack felt. ‘He shouldn't have had to die like that.’
Jack kept silent. He couldn't bring himself to say that he'd have preferred Ianto to have stayed right out of danger altogether. The trouble was that Ianto would follow Jack anywhere, even into the jaws of hell. He made the mistake of thinking that he was immortal like Jack, throwing himself headlong into danger. Jack had already tried to protect him twice today: first putting himself between Ianto and the escaped tiger that had been running right at them, and then throwing himself at the Brakkanee when it had picked up Ianto's sudden movement towards Walter and his wife, trying to rescue them. Jack had literally died for him and was still suffering the after-effects from his mauled leg. ‘I told you no sudden moves, didn't I?’ Jack said, suddenly feeling angry about it.
‘No. Your exact words were that it relied more on sound than sight. I was very quiet. You know, in between all the people screaming and panicking.’
‘Are you seriously trying to justify this?’
‘Should I give you two some space?’ Owen asked facetiously. ‘I really hate domestics.’
‘Just push the damn chair, Owen,’ Jack barked, ‘since Ianto is having so much trouble with it.’ He didn't have to see the young man to know he was feeling annoyed at Jack, falling into step beside them, heels clicking the concrete in time with the whirr of the rubber wheels. Ianto stewed in silence before he could no longer contain the need to defend his actions, just as Jack had anticipated.
‘Those Achenbrite guys were all over this. I followed them. They'd have taken that tech with them. And then we'd have no idea what game they were playing at. If you hadn't been…’ Jack didn't miss the way Ianto paused and refused to use the word dead to describe Jack ‘…indisposed.’
It was a lie and they both knew it. Ianto would have raced to beat them to whatever alien tech it was they thought they were going to escape with. Personal safety never came into the equation. Now they were both paying the price for their stubborn bad judgement – Jack through the pain of death and a leg that would take days to heal, and Ianto, currently invisible and suffering from his own injuries which no one, not even he, could see to treat. Some date this turned out to be. They should just learn to stay home, eat pizza and watch a movie.
‘A few burns were worth it, whatever you say. But thank you. If you hadn't done exactly what I knew you would, I'd probably be dead right now.’
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Owen
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG.
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: Minor spoilers for book “Pack Animals”
Author notes: Written for Challenge 187 - Bad judgement at
fandomweeklySummary: Jack should know better than to think he can protect Ianto in the face of danger.
The zoo was still on chaos even as the team were making their hasty exit, if only to avoid that obnoxious BBC reporter who'd been haranguing Jack, but who now appeared to be in a whole lot of trouble with the police thanks to Ianto, Jack's invisible hero, who couldn't be blamed for the police officer suddenly having their legs kicked out from under them, just feet from where the BBC man has been standing. Served David Brigstocke right, in Jack's opinion.
A flock of brightly coloured parrots flew over their heads. Not your usual Cardiff residents, Jack observed. Just a few more of the animals that had managed to escape in the confusion and the strange men in grey boiler suits with the word Achenbrite stitched over the top pockets who seemed to be at the heart of all the disruption. There’d be time to worry about them, and how they’d come to ruin Jack and Ianto’s date, later.
Jack felt his wheelchair being propelled faster up the path toward the carpark and the SUV, forcing Owen to keep up with it until it came to an abrupt stop. ‘What are we stopping for?’ The sooner they got back to the hub and got Jack on some decent painkillers, the better.
There was an audible hiss from the invisible wheelchair pusher. ‘Just my hand,’ Ianto replied. ‘It really hurts. And I stink of tiger shit.’
Jack arched both eyebrows and then gestured down at his leg hidden under the paramedics blanket, hanging on by a few sinews at the ankle and not much more. It was still stinging like hell and leaving a small trail of blood spatter behind them. ‘Your hand hurts?’ Jack asked incredulously. ‘And you think this doesn't?’
The invisible apology came by way of Ianto leaning over the back of Jack's chair and planting a kiss in his hair. Admittedly, Ianto did stink this close up. He was never this affectionate when Owen could see them. At least there had to be some small concession to Ianto's sudden transparency. ‘What happened to your hand?’ Jack asked, wishing he could have had Owen check it out in case Ianto was downplaying the injury, as he almost always did.
‘I think I burned it pretty badly when I grabbed that piece of alien tech.’
Jack tutted. ‘Didn't I tell you not to touch things?’
‘You tell me not to do things all the time. That doesn't mean I always listen to you.’
Jack bit back his annoyance. ‘Maybe you should listen more often.’
‘I was only trying to help Walter and his wife,’ he retorted, before the sickening truth of it hit them both. ‘Walter’s dead, isn't he?’
‘I dunno,’ Jack said, genuinely unsure. ‘But, yeah, probably.’ One moment the old man had been chastising Ianto for being caught up in the moment, joking and using bad language around children, and then the next his lovely wife of seventy years had interceded and told them to simply enjoy being in love, wandering away with her husband, holding hands just and Jack and Ianto had been on their date. Now poor Walter's wife was going to have to let him go. They'd never hold hands together ever again.
‘I should have gotten to them sooner,’ Ianto said, sounding as despondent as Jack felt. ‘He shouldn't have had to die like that.’
Jack kept silent. He couldn't bring himself to say that he'd have preferred Ianto to have stayed right out of danger altogether. The trouble was that Ianto would follow Jack anywhere, even into the jaws of hell. He made the mistake of thinking that he was immortal like Jack, throwing himself headlong into danger. Jack had already tried to protect him twice today: first putting himself between Ianto and the escaped tiger that had been running right at them, and then throwing himself at the Brakkanee when it had picked up Ianto's sudden movement towards Walter and his wife, trying to rescue them. Jack had literally died for him and was still suffering the after-effects from his mauled leg. ‘I told you no sudden moves, didn't I?’ Jack said, suddenly feeling angry about it.
‘No. Your exact words were that it relied more on sound than sight. I was very quiet. You know, in between all the people screaming and panicking.’
‘Are you seriously trying to justify this?’
‘Should I give you two some space?’ Owen asked facetiously. ‘I really hate domestics.’
‘Just push the damn chair, Owen,’ Jack barked, ‘since Ianto is having so much trouble with it.’ He didn't have to see the young man to know he was feeling annoyed at Jack, falling into step beside them, heels clicking the concrete in time with the whirr of the rubber wheels. Ianto stewed in silence before he could no longer contain the need to defend his actions, just as Jack had anticipated.
‘Those Achenbrite guys were all over this. I followed them. They'd have taken that tech with them. And then we'd have no idea what game they were playing at. If you hadn't been…’ Jack didn't miss the way Ianto paused and refused to use the word dead to describe Jack ‘…indisposed.’
It was a lie and they both knew it. Ianto would have raced to beat them to whatever alien tech it was they thought they were going to escape with. Personal safety never came into the equation. Now they were both paying the price for their stubborn bad judgement – Jack through the pain of death and a leg that would take days to heal, and Ianto, currently invisible and suffering from his own injuries which no one, not even he, could see to treat. Some date this turned out to be. They should just learn to stay home, eat pizza and watch a movie.
‘A few burns were worth it, whatever you say. But thank you. If you hadn't done exactly what I knew you would, I'd probably be dead right now.’