![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
m_findlowTheme Prompt: #027 Flophouse at fandomweekly
Title: Staying inn for the night
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: "It's just a cheap little motel. Relax."
'You're grumpy,' Jack complained.
Ianto huffed. 'I'm not grumpy, I'm tired. We've been trekking around no man's land all day long, have nothing to show for it but sodden clothes and blistered feet, and we're miles from home. And it's dark, and from the looks of things, you have no idea where we are.'
'I know where we are,' Jack argued.
'Where's that, then?'
'The middle of nowhere.'
'Great.'
Ianto shuffled in his seat, trying to find a comfortable spot, which was impossible because no matter how he tried, some new part of his body protested with aches, and his damp clothes clung to him like sticky hands. Trying to help Jack navigate at this point in time seemed a waste. Even he didn't know where they were.
'Just pull over, for heavens sake,' Ianto mumbled. 'It's clear we're stuck here for the night.' It wouldn't be the first time they'd slept rough in the SUV.
'Just a little further,' Jack insisted. Surely they'd find somewhere on this lonely winding road they could stay. As if by mentally wishing it, a tiny little building came into view out of the darkness, with a sad little sandwich board sign by the road saying "motel".
'Eureka!' Jack cried, pulling over into the gravel driveway. 'I'll have you tucked up with champagne and strawberries in no time.'
Ianto only had to take one look at the place to know that it had never seen a strawberry in its life.
Jack disappeared into the pokey little reception area, lit by a tiny light, amazed that it was still manned at this late hour, and even more amazed at how reasonable their rates were, before taking the keys and rapping on the window for Ianto to join him.
Ianto grudgingly followed him, trying to feel grateful that they'd at least have a bed for the night.
'Just you, me and a hotel room for the night,' Jack said. 'What could be better?'
He slipped the key in the lock and thrust open the door excitedly.
The smell hit both of them full in the face and they gagged on it.
'Urgh, what is that?' Ianto cried, holding his arm over his nose.
'Peppermint, I think,' Jack replied, his eyes beginning to water.
'Yes, but what was it trying to mask the smell of?'
Inside the room was tiny and cramped, and Jack immediately knew Ianto's sensitivities about things being neat, tidy and clean within an inch of their lives, would be having a minor meltdown right now.
'It's not so bad once you get used to it,' Jack offered.
'A very fine example of a dosshouse,' Ianto agreed, breathing through his mouth, and slipping the chain across the door, sealing them in for the night. Awful as it was, it seemed necessary to barricade themselves against whatever axe murderers lurked out in the boondocks of Wales. That was probably what they could smell: the room's last victim.
The covers on the bed looked utterly threadbare, and Ianto was too scared to lift them off and reveal the sheets underneath, and perhaps the bloodstains soaked into the mattress. Jack offered to grab the emergency blankets from the back of the SUV.
'If you're not back in five minutes, I'm calling the police,' Ianto said, before checking his phone and realising they had no reception.
Whilst Jack was gone, he padded into the tiny bathroom, mould growing everywhere. Could it be too much to hope he could get hot water out of taps to warm up his chilled skin? The water trickled slowly before giving up altogether. He managed enough to wet a suspicious looking flannel, rubbing it over his face before toweling off.
There was nowhere to hang their wet clothes, no cupboards and no hooks. He made do with the curtain rail, his clothes covering the small window far better than the motheaten curtains ever would.
Huh, he thought, surveying the room, the smell had faded somewhat. That or his olfactory senses had been permanently damaged by it.
The sound of the door rattling startled him, and he went to reach for the weapon that wasn't there. Finally Jack came through, a bundle of blankets in his arm, and Ianto let out a sigh of relief.
'Door was stuck,' Jack said, catching Ianto's pale complexion.
He laughed. 'You look like you've seen a ghost.'
'I thought I was about to be chopped into little bits,' he replied. 'And stood here in nothing but my underwear.'
'Ianto, there are no crazy murderers come to snatch you in the night. It's just a cheap little motel. Relax.'
Ianto glared at him as he proceeded to undress his own wet clothes, distracting himself with the view of Jack's body being slowly revealed, and telling himself he really was being stupid.
Jack laid a blanket on the top of the bed and pulled another one over the top of them as they huddled beneath it, Ianto's head resting on Jack's shoulder; the manky pillows relegated to the floor beside the bed.
'Better?' Jack asked.
'Better,' Ianto agreed, snuggled against Jack, the rest of the room now hidden away in the dark, and Jack's pheromones overpowering the minty smell.
The place was eerily quiet and Ianto was almost asleep when the window rattled. He tensed and Jack's arm around him pulled him closer.
'Just the wind,' he mumbled.
Then the door rattled loudly as well and the window sounded like someone was tapping on it. One of the walls was being pounded as well, as they both sat bolt upright in the bed.
'You think that was just the wind too?' Ianto asked.
'Er, maybe not?'
The sounds grew louder and more insistent. Even the water in the bathroom began to drip loudly, where before there had been none.
Jack grabbed Ianto's hand and tugged him to the door.
'When I open it, we run for the SUV.'
'What about our clothes?'
'Forget the clothes! Just get to the car!'
no subject
Date: 2017-01-22 06:42 am (UTC)Remind me again why Jack's in charge?
He wants them to run naked outside straight into the arms of the zombi apocalypse ???
no subject
Date: 2017-01-22 09:39 am (UTC)Well.... given the options of staying in a haunted hotel room with no weapons and no way out, or making a break for the car and their guns, I think I'd take my chances too.
Besides, if there was a zombie apocalypse outside, a naked Jack woukd be very distracting whilst you made a run for it. ;)
no subject
Date: 2017-01-22 10:34 am (UTC)Any chance of a sequel where the go back to retrieve their clothes?
no subject
Date: 2017-01-22 10:42 am (UTC)Would love to write a sequel. Might have to find a suitable prompt during contest week to write it. :)
no subject
Date: 2017-01-22 11:23 am (UTC)I'll keep my fingers crossed you'll find a suitable prompt - or you could leave one on the latest free-for-all post... ;)