Torchwood: Fanfic: All hands

[m_findlow]

Title: All hands
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto 
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,128 words 
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for badly_knitted's prompt "any, any, Ambidextrous" at fic_promptly 
Summary: There's a new meaning to all hands on deck... 

Jack had always been usually talented with his hands. Ianto had plenty of first hand experience, as it were. This however was something totally and altogether different. Owen was still uncertain as to exactly how it had happened in the first place. Still, at least it seemed to be confined to Jack alone. He didn't think the rest of them would be coping quite so well. In fact, had it been happening to him, he didn't think he would have coped at all. 

He sucked in a deep breath and entered Jack's office with the coffee laden tray. Jack was sat at his desk, working away. He was shirtless, but that wasn't the reason Ianto found it difficult to look at him. That had something to do with the latest additions to Jack's torso. Encircling his chest, just below his pectorals, were six tentacle like growths. Two at the front, two at the back, and one on each side just under his arms, each about two feet long, and puckered on the underside by dozens of tiny suckers, like an octopus.

At least they weren't green or scaly or anything like that, he thought gratefully, having tried to blend with his natural skin tone. Even after three days, he still found the sight slightly disturbing, as each tentacle moved independently of one another. Jack of course, seemed to be taking to them naturally, making use of them wherever he could. That was what he was doing when Ianto entered, filling out a report with one tentacle wrapped around his pen, whilst two more were typing on his computer. A fourth seemed to be tending to an itch on the back of his head, whilst the rest curled and uncurled in a completely relaxed manner that was slightly creepy. 

'Ah, Ianto, you're a lifesaver,' Jack declared as a tentacle reached out for the mug of coffee, and another for the plate of biscuits. His natural arms seemed to be left idle thanks to the ambidextrous nature of new appendages. Ianto tried hard not to look at them, and got noticed in the process. 

'It's fine, really,' Jack tried to assure him. 'I've never gotten so much work done.'

'It does give ambidextrous a whole new meaning. Though it makes it a bit hard for you to leave the hub without getting noticed,' Ianto replied. 

'At least I don't have to be submerged in water.'

'Always looking on the bright side.'

'Speaking of bright side, I could think of a few more benefits to having these,' he said wiggling several of the tentacles suggestively. 

It wasn't that he hadn't thought about it. Jack had a way of corrupting his mind with all kinds of things he never would have contemplated before they'd met. This however, was too much, even for him. He'd already made excuses for the last two nights as to why he wouldn't be sharing the bed with him. The first night he'd convinced Owen to lie on his behalf, suggesting that Jack might be contagious and that it was probably risky to be that close for an extended period of time until he was totally sure. Last night he'd used the excuse that his sister had invited him over for dinner. He had tonight's excuse, that the bed would be too small with all those extra "things" and tomorrow's, that he really wasn't feeling well, already planned, each progressively lamer than the last, but Jack hadn't called him out on it yet. 

He frowned watching Jack multitasking. 'How are you even doing that?' he asked, watching as he simultaneously sipped coffee, typed, wrote and snaffled another biscuit. 'You've usually got the attention span of a gnat.' 

'No idea,' Jack confessed, his new dexterity puzzling him almost as much. He stuck one of the tentacles in his mouth, sucking off the melted chocolate from the biscuits. It was gross and slightly erotic at the same time. Ianto made his departure quickly before he could decide which was the overriding emotion. 

Spending several hours down in the solitude of the archives helped focus his mind on other things, but he also spent a good deal of time dwelling on guilty feelings. He really should be more supportive. They'd been in worse scrapes than this and it had never been a problem. He couldn't put his finger on why this disturbed him so much. He paced from one end of the archives to the other, taking his frustration out on box labels that needed replacing, being faded, water damaged or mildewy. He was still angrily peeling off sticky remnants with his fingernail, annoyed at their refusal to cooperate, when warm arms enveloped him. 

At first he sank back into the familiar grip until he felt the additional movement of something that shouldn't be there, drifting along his spine. He pulled away instinctively, then caught the hurt look on Jack's face. 

'Please Ianto,' Jack begged, 'let me touch you. I'm still me, despite all this.' 

Ianto felt awful, like the worst possible human being on the planet. He'd been so caught up in his own feelings that he'd forgotten all about Jack. He just assumed he must have been enjoying himself. Stupid, selfish, twat, he scolded himself.

Jack reached up with his regular arms and placed them on Ianto's shoulders, his back still turned, and began massaging them, trying to ease out some of the tension that lay heavily there. When Ianto didn't recoil, he allowed the two tentacles on his front to begin working away on the muscles between his shoulder blades, and then the two at his sides, pressing circular motions along his lower back. 

Ianto was surprised by how much pressure Jack's appendages were able to exert. They appeared long and flimsy, but were in fact strong and muscular. He found himself leaning back into their ministrations, expecting them to be cold, but finding them equally as warm and soothing as the hands on his shoulders. He let Jack continue for a few minutes more, unaware of how tense he'd been as Jack worked the muscles, before turning around in his arms, and letting them wrap around his body, pulling him in tightly for a kiss. 

Oh, he'd missed this, he thought, as Jack plundered his mouth. He could feel two of Jack's tentacles pulling at the back of his shirt, easing it out of his trousers before snaking their way underneath to caress the skin they'd been massaging only minutes ago. Their warm touches felt really good, and Ianto began to once again consider where else those dexterous appendages might explore. 

'Still think the bed will be too small for the both of us?'

Ianto let out a small moan of pleasure. 'I think we'll manage just fine.'

Comments

[jo02]

I'm with Ianto about being freaked out by this.

[bk_forever]

Don't be so squeamish, Ianto! You'll regrest not trying out Jack's new apppendages once they're gone. You may never get another opportunity to experiment. Jack and tentacles just go together so well!

Glad Ianto came to his senses in time!

Thanks for the fill =)