m_findlow

Title: Hard truth
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Owen, Gwen
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 546 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for badly_knitted's prompt "any, any, Pretending to hate each other" at fic_promptly
Summary: Keeping up the facade is not going to last

It wasn't just because Tosh had had that pendant and had apparently heard discovered everything that was going on between them because she could hear their inner most thoughts. They were fairly sure that Jack and Ianto also knew full well by now, if not having been told by Tosh, then simply because they were very good at what they did and uncovering secrets was as much a skill as keeping them.

That they all knew didn't help matters. They knew it should have. None of their teammates should have condoned what they'd done, but neither were they game to stand the moral high ground, given the cumulative effect of all of their prior deeds and misdemeanors.

Had they not been busted they would probably still be together. Even afterwards it was tough to try and end something that had begun as nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to the pressures and stress of the job, but had ended up being a regular release of emotions and energy in a way that was totally non commital.

Now they'd gone to the other extreme, as if to prove that they were no longer together and had no desire to be together. It wasn't really necessary, but they all practically lived in each others pockets from day to day, so the only way to make the situation less awkward was to pretend that they'd had a massive falling out. If anything, perhaps it would help them move on from each other. Spouting enough vitriol at one another and they might actually start to believe some of it.

They should have ended it that day, but somehow the just couldn't bring themselves to do it properly. Neither of them really wanted it to end. There was something thrilling about having something you knew you shouldn't, and that made it all the harder to stop. Like an addiction, they knew they should stop. He shouldn't have given a toss about Gwen's boyfriend, because if she wasn't getting what she needed at home, he was only to happy to accommodate her needs. Then something had changed.

Owen had seen the way Jack looked at him. For some reason what Jack thought of him still mattered. He couldn't care less about Toshiko and the Teaboy's opinions, but knowing that Jack was staring that the back of his head made him nervous. Gwen was something of a protected species around here, and anything that might jeopardise her life outside of Torchwood was taken very seriously. Or perhaps he just wanted Gwen for himself.

'We can't keep doing this,' he said one night as they both collapsed onto the bedsheets.

'I know,' she agreed, lying there, tracing a finger down his face. 'But I don't want to stop.'

'The others. They're going to get suspicious if we keep carrying on like this.'

He had to admit, even the snarkiness and the ill willed banter they'd been throwing at each other during the day made him want her. It was like foreplay, knowing that underneath it all they were doing it to preserve what they had.

'What do we do?'

'I don't know,' he answered, pulling her body closer to his. Morning would be coming soon and they'd have to start pretending all over again.