Torchwood: Fanfic: The long ride home

[m_findlow]

Title: The long ride home
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 417 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for lannamichaels' prompt "Any, any will brake for birds" at fic_promptly
Summary: Are we there yet?

Jack hates letting Ianto drive the SUV. He's such an old woman, going at the practically pedestrian style speed limit. Speed limits are for everyone else, not Torchwood. They can go as fast as they like.

'Stop sulking,' Ianto said.

'I'm not sulking.'

'You are.'

'This isn't my sulking face, this is my about to die of sheer boredom face.'

'Oh, my mistake. They're so similar.'

Jack hates that Ianto knows his displeasure about his driving. There's a time and place for breakneck speeds and sharp corners, and he's done more than his fair share of them. Perhaps that's what frustrates Jack most. It's not the lack of ability but an intentional disregard of the need for speed at any time other than when it's absolutely necessary.

Jack slouches further down into the passenger seat, contemplating opening the glove compartment and upending it, just to get one back at Ianto.

'We'll be there soon,' Ianto says.

'So will Christmas,' Jack moans.

'You're just grumpy because you're tired. Children are like that.'

The car carries on down the road, a left turn, then a right. It's procedural; slow, stop, indicate, check both ways, slowly accelerate and turn. Then comes another slowing of the vehicle and a stop. Jack looks up. They haven't reached their destination. There's no traffic light, no car in front of them, so why the hell have they stopped?

'What now?' Jack complains.

'There's ducks crossing the road.'

'Ducks? We stopped for ducks?'

Jack is incredulous. It's enough to make him seriously contemplate breaking up with Ianto. Instead he quickly unbuckles his seat belt and gets out of the car. Ianto waits for his own door to be thrown open and to be hauled bodily out of the drivers seat. That's what Jack had intended to, but when he sees the ducks idly waddling across the road in a line, it's more than his tired brain can stand, and he chases after them instead.

Several people witness the appalling spectacle, and once the ducks have scattered and Jack is left standing in the middle of the road, looking harried and not a bit insane, he finally clambers back into the car.

Ianto points to the duck crossing sign which sits by the side of the road, bright yellow and black. It wasn't a random act of madness.

'Can we go home now, Jack? Or would you like me to take you past Ivy Day Nursing Home so you can heckle some old ladies as well?'

Comments

[jo02]

Lol, this gave me such a hysterical mental picture of poor, wild-eyed Jack :)

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

Tired, mentally unstable Jack is not a pretty sight. Luckily, Ianto is used to it. He'll take him home and tuck him up in bed so that with a proper night's sleep he'll be back to normal in the morning.

[bk_forever]

Maybe Ianto should have put Jack down for a nap. Clearly he gets cranky when he's overtired. Someone fetch his blankie ;)