m_findlow

Title: The lunatic fringe
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 500 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 438 - Capricious at slashthedrabble
Summary: Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.

Jack knows one thing about Ianto. He's particular and fussy to a point that is almost incomprehensible to most ordinary folk.

It's like there's a complete other person hidden beneath that bespoke suit, and Jack can never quite tell which of his many actions is about to offend, resulting in the clash between Jekyll and Hyde.

He can't quite comprehend how someone so calm and level-headed can descend so quickly and unexpectedly into a fit of complete insanity over such trifling things. Capricious doesn't seem quite the right word for it, since it implies constant volatility, with hints of schizophrenic, but there are times when he's bearing the brunt of the onslaught that those two things seem to describe his lover to perfection. It's fussy, and teensy bit anal retentive, control freak, not that he'd ever say that out loud. In his head, yes, constantly - wanting to bang it against the desk - but never out loud. That would only serve to set him off again, no doubt.

Ianto probably couldn't help it. Maybe he'd been raised that way, or perhaps something had snapped inside him one day. Perhaps in amongst all of the craziness that was Torchwood, he needed something he could grab hold of that he could control completely, one tiny little section of the world in perfect and balanced order, where he could feel safe, Jack constantly threatening it.

Open the cupboard and all the mugs have the handles facing the same way, papers on desks neatly stacked just so, the SUV polished so you could see your face in it.

Then everything changes. One second a perfectly normal personal is standing there, and the next, he's suddenly taken by a compelling, random and unpredictable act of impulsive fastidiousness.

Maybe that's why he constantly did his block at Jack, and the others in turn. No one liked having their perfect little slice of paradise ruined. Jack knew that himself. If anyone wanted to interrupt him when he was having special time with Ianto, be it on their heads what he might do to them.

Still, it doesn't help Jack one iota when the fatal misstep is taken. Twenty minutes ago he'd been breathing a sigh of relief that the world wasn't going to end today. Then he saw Ianto, that look of plain fury etched on his face, the remains of a CB radio clutched in his hand like a grenade, about to pull the pin and loft it in Jack's direction. He's not sure exactly what the issue was but he remembers at some point the words "sticky" and "eucalyptus oil", which was probably an indication of the appropriate cleaning solvent for the task, currently causing the bone of contention.

Try as he might to maintain that serious facade, he just can't, bursting into a fit of laughter, incensing his lover even more. Nuclear holocaust or sticky side mirror? He knows which one he'd rather have. Putting up with Ianto's peculiarities is just part of the job.