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m_findlowTitle: By the light of the full moon
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: Part of my baker-verse AU.
Author notes: Written for Challenge 198 - Harvest time at![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomweekly
Summary: Tonight is the big moment of truth for all the labours of Jack and Ianto’s productive patch.
It was such a beautiful night, Jack thought as he leaned back against their apple tree, watching the moonlight cast down in dappled patches through the leaves. It was a huge tree now, having been planted there nearly five years ago now, but it was the wrong time of year for apples – or at least the closest thing you could get to an apple when you lived on the other side of the known universe. There were other trees on the property that were also similar to apples and they were fruiting in abundance to make up for it, as was most of their self-sustaining produce garden. Ianto was not going to be short on fruity fillings for his famous cakes and tarts, keeping everyone in the valley fat on his delectable treats. Jack patted his own stomach realising he too was starting to fall victim to too much good food.
However it wasn't apples that had Jack and his husband camping out in the moonlight. Tonight they were hoping that two long years of toil would finally pay dividends.
Jack reached down where Ianto was asleep, his head resting on Jack's outstretched leg, and shook his shoulder gently. ‘Honey?’ He shook again when he didn't get a response. ‘Ianto? Ianto!’
There was a grunt and a jolt as Ianto came to, rubbing his eyes and pressing the light display on his digital watch, confirming the late hour. ‘I've barely been asleep for two hours,’ he complained, slipping his arms into the sleeves of his jacket that had just moments ago been draped over him like a blanket.
‘I know. The cramp in my leg where you've been using it as a pillow agrees,’ he said, moving it to get feeling back as Ianto sat up. Jack didn't stand until he was sure he had full circulation back. ‘Moment of truth,’ Jack said, as they walked across to the patch of low three foot tall bushes that ran in four tight rows on a small patch of their edible garden. ‘It's the last week before summer and we've got a full moon. If not now, then it'll be another year.’
‘I hope not,’ Ianto said, sidling up beside him.
Jack shrugged. Lanshee berries were notoriously hard to grow which is what made them so rare. That and the fact that they'd only fruit for the three nights of perfect full moon once in a year if all the conditions were right. Ianto's delights were exceptional but he was always looking for something special. If it wasn't baked, it was preserved, made into cordials or liqueurs. His skills in the kitchen surpassed even those of his maintaining the Torchwood archives a few centuries ago. Perhaps he'd missed his true calling, but as a way to fill in a few hundred years of peace and tranquillity in this secluded valley, four hundred parsecs from anywhere, it was a pretty good life.
They watched and waited in the dark and then, without warning, each and every bush erupted in a pale lemony glow as grape sized berries began to balloon from every tiny branch, glittering in the night.
Jack wrapped an arm around Ianto’s shoulder and pulled him close. ‘Great job, you,’ he said.
‘We did it together.’
‘Nah, the garden has always been your thing more than mine. I just help with all the hard manual labour.’
‘What can I say? I just love watching you get all hot and sweaty, ripping your shirt off and then getting even sweatier. It's a turn on.’
‘These abs were made for working,’ Jack teased. He needed the labour to work off the muffin top that threatened to ruin his reputation as Captain Jack and instead make him Captain Flab.
‘I'll remember that next time I need some new furrows ploughed. I might get you to start without your shirt.’
‘Naked gardening, now there's a concept!’
‘Lucky our neighbours are a long way away and won't see.’
‘More’s pity for them.’
‘Indeed,’ Ianto agreed.
‘We should get picking,’ Jack said. ‘The more you pick, the more they fruit,’ he added, passing Ianto a large basket and then grabbing one for himself.
He wandered to the closest bush whilst Ianto started at the other end of the patch. Jack plucked a large, heavy berry from the bush, watching as another quickly replaced it and popped it in his mouth. The explosion of flavour was even better than he remembered it the first time he'd encountered one, sharing the experience with his husband. It was sweet like honey, but acidic like an unripe nectarine, and some other flavour profile that he'd never been able to properly describe.
As soon as Ianto had tasted it, he'd told Jack that they simply had to try growing them, no matter how hard Jack assured him it would be. They were just about the rarest and most expensive thing there was. Even pineapples were easier to import around these parts and they were an absolute luxury, making Ianto's famous pineapple upside down cake his best selling item. It was too cool to grow pineapples here though, but not Lanshee berries.
Jack scoffed several dozen before stopping and calling out. ‘Don't eat too many or you'll make yourself sick,’ he said, even as he saw his fingertips, and probably his lips, were glowing from the juices. Worse, his stomach was starting to glow from the inside out. Damn them for being so addictive!
They picked until the early hours of dawn as the last of the berries ceased to be replenished without sufficient moonlight. It was lucky it was light so they couldn't see themselves glowing all over from too much indulgence. Oh well, Jack thought. If they'd put in the hard work to grow them, why shouldn't they get to eat as many as they wanted? It was, after all, only once a year, but one time of the year they'd be able to look forward to for centuries to come.
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: Part of my baker-verse AU.
Author notes: Written for Challenge 198 - Harvest time at
fandomweeklySummary: Tonight is the big moment of truth for all the labours of Jack and Ianto’s productive patch.
It was such a beautiful night, Jack thought as he leaned back against their apple tree, watching the moonlight cast down in dappled patches through the leaves. It was a huge tree now, having been planted there nearly five years ago now, but it was the wrong time of year for apples – or at least the closest thing you could get to an apple when you lived on the other side of the known universe. There were other trees on the property that were also similar to apples and they were fruiting in abundance to make up for it, as was most of their self-sustaining produce garden. Ianto was not going to be short on fruity fillings for his famous cakes and tarts, keeping everyone in the valley fat on his delectable treats. Jack patted his own stomach realising he too was starting to fall victim to too much good food.
However it wasn't apples that had Jack and his husband camping out in the moonlight. Tonight they were hoping that two long years of toil would finally pay dividends.
Jack reached down where Ianto was asleep, his head resting on Jack's outstretched leg, and shook his shoulder gently. ‘Honey?’ He shook again when he didn't get a response. ‘Ianto? Ianto!’
There was a grunt and a jolt as Ianto came to, rubbing his eyes and pressing the light display on his digital watch, confirming the late hour. ‘I've barely been asleep for two hours,’ he complained, slipping his arms into the sleeves of his jacket that had just moments ago been draped over him like a blanket.
‘I know. The cramp in my leg where you've been using it as a pillow agrees,’ he said, moving it to get feeling back as Ianto sat up. Jack didn't stand until he was sure he had full circulation back. ‘Moment of truth,’ Jack said, as they walked across to the patch of low three foot tall bushes that ran in four tight rows on a small patch of their edible garden. ‘It's the last week before summer and we've got a full moon. If not now, then it'll be another year.’
‘I hope not,’ Ianto said, sidling up beside him.
Jack shrugged. Lanshee berries were notoriously hard to grow which is what made them so rare. That and the fact that they'd only fruit for the three nights of perfect full moon once in a year if all the conditions were right. Ianto's delights were exceptional but he was always looking for something special. If it wasn't baked, it was preserved, made into cordials or liqueurs. His skills in the kitchen surpassed even those of his maintaining the Torchwood archives a few centuries ago. Perhaps he'd missed his true calling, but as a way to fill in a few hundred years of peace and tranquillity in this secluded valley, four hundred parsecs from anywhere, it was a pretty good life.
They watched and waited in the dark and then, without warning, each and every bush erupted in a pale lemony glow as grape sized berries began to balloon from every tiny branch, glittering in the night.
Jack wrapped an arm around Ianto’s shoulder and pulled him close. ‘Great job, you,’ he said.
‘We did it together.’
‘Nah, the garden has always been your thing more than mine. I just help with all the hard manual labour.’
‘What can I say? I just love watching you get all hot and sweaty, ripping your shirt off and then getting even sweatier. It's a turn on.’
‘These abs were made for working,’ Jack teased. He needed the labour to work off the muffin top that threatened to ruin his reputation as Captain Jack and instead make him Captain Flab.
‘I'll remember that next time I need some new furrows ploughed. I might get you to start without your shirt.’
‘Naked gardening, now there's a concept!’
‘Lucky our neighbours are a long way away and won't see.’
‘More’s pity for them.’
‘Indeed,’ Ianto agreed.
‘We should get picking,’ Jack said. ‘The more you pick, the more they fruit,’ he added, passing Ianto a large basket and then grabbing one for himself.
He wandered to the closest bush whilst Ianto started at the other end of the patch. Jack plucked a large, heavy berry from the bush, watching as another quickly replaced it and popped it in his mouth. The explosion of flavour was even better than he remembered it the first time he'd encountered one, sharing the experience with his husband. It was sweet like honey, but acidic like an unripe nectarine, and some other flavour profile that he'd never been able to properly describe.
As soon as Ianto had tasted it, he'd told Jack that they simply had to try growing them, no matter how hard Jack assured him it would be. They were just about the rarest and most expensive thing there was. Even pineapples were easier to import around these parts and they were an absolute luxury, making Ianto's famous pineapple upside down cake his best selling item. It was too cool to grow pineapples here though, but not Lanshee berries.
Jack scoffed several dozen before stopping and calling out. ‘Don't eat too many or you'll make yourself sick,’ he said, even as he saw his fingertips, and probably his lips, were glowing from the juices. Worse, his stomach was starting to glow from the inside out. Damn them for being so addictive!
They picked until the early hours of dawn as the last of the berries ceased to be replenished without sufficient moonlight. It was lucky it was light so they couldn't see themselves glowing all over from too much indulgence. Oh well, Jack thought. If they'd put in the hard work to grow them, why shouldn't they get to eat as many as they wanted? It was, after all, only once a year, but one time of the year they'd be able to look forward to for centuries to come.
