Torchwood: Fanfic: The little things

[m_findlow]

Title: The little things
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 743 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for eggplantlady's prompt "any, any, is there anything better than hot buttered toast?" at fic_promptly
Summary: It's the little things that make life special

When Ianto trudged through his apartment door, there didn't seem to be any way that his night could possibly improve. Five hours of chasing around the city in the torrential rain, collecting a swarm of runaway creatures that looked like red squirrels. To make matters worse, he'd been accosted several times during the afternoon having finally gotten hold of the elusive little fur balls and shoving them into small cages, only to be abused by eye witnesses who had suddenly decided that red squirrels needed protection. No one believed his story that he was in fact capturing them for transport back to a preservation sanctuary. And it turned out that wet alien squirrels smelled really bad. It was going to take a month to get the smell of them out of the SUV.

When Jack came strolling through his door ten minutes later, he didn't feel like being very accommodating.

'I'm cold, sodden, and my feet are covered in blisters. I really don't feel like entertaining you for the rest of the evening.' In truth he just wanted to crawl onto the couch under a blanket and stay there for a few days.

Jack was taken aback by the abrupt dismissal. He hadn't thought the day had gone that badly. They'd found all of the critters and had them safely ensconced at the hub until they could be sent back home. And on the plus side, they hadn't caused any damage, nor had anyone gotten hurt. All things considered, today was a good day by their standards.

He wandered over to the grumpy young man, attempting to wrap warm but equally sodden arms around him, but was shucked off unceremoniously.

'I'm serious, Jack. I'm not up for it. Why don't you just go and I'll see you in the morning.'

Jack refused to be brushed off so easily. He knew he could win him over eventually.

'Look, why don't you get out of those clothes and go and have a nice hot shower?'

Ianto quirked an eyebrow at him. 'This isn't some slightly less than elaborate plan to get me naked?'

'Promise.'

'And you won't sneak in after I'm in there?'

'Cross my heart,' he said seriously, making the same motion with his hand.

Ianto huffed out a resigned breath and gave Jack one final look before stalking off down the hall.

He had to admit that the hot water and soap had done wonders for his tired body and disposition. Even more surprising was what he found when he padded from the bathroom to the bedroom. On the bed, Jack had laid out pajamas, along with his thick, warm dressing gown and slippers. It was unusually thoughtful.

As he came back down the hall he could smell the scent of coffee. That new coffee machine was the best thing they'd ever bought. Even Jack could easily whip up a perfectly palatable brew with minimal fuss. But that wasn't all he could smell. There was something else.

'Ah, here he is,' Jack greeted him, having also donned a replacement set of dry clothes. Ianto was tempted to check the hamper in the laundry. It seemed too much to hope that Jack had dumped their sodden garments in the hamper, rather than just on top of the lid like he usually did.

'What have you been up to?'

'It's nothing special,' Jack said, passing Ianto a plate. 'Just toast.'

Ianto took a small bite, convinced he wasn't hungry, but it was tastier than he expected, the warmth of the toast and the saltiness of the butter, just right. The rest of the slice disappeared quickly soon after.

'Is there anything better than hot buttered toast?'

'On a cold wet night, probably not,' Jack agreed, snapping a large bite out of his own, and washing it down with hot coffee. It was funny how the simplest of things could bring joy out of an otherwise gloomy evening.

'I'm sorry I was such a grouch earlier,' he apologised. 'I don't deserve all this.' He got up off the kitchen stool and hugged Jack, feeling far more amenable to a night together. He was glad that Jack was so stubborn sometimes.

'You're easy to please. And it was my pleasure,' he replied, reciprocating with his own hug.

'Did you have any other surprises planned?'

'Just a night tucked up in bed with my favourite Welshman. How does that sound?'

'Sounds like the perfect way to end the day.'

Comments

[jo02]

Now I want hot, buttered toast ..... wanders off ...

[bk_forever]

Oooh, hot buttered toast. I miss that now I can't eat bread.

Jack can occasionally be considerate! I hope some industrial strength air reshener will deal with the pong of wet alien squirrel.