m_findlow

Title: You read my mind
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 885 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for darkhavens' prompt "Any, any, just hold this for a second" at fic_promptly
Summary: It's not quite the touchy feely Ianto had in mind

'Just hold this for a second,' Jack said, proferring something out toward Ianto with his hand.

Ianto fixed him with a look. 'What is it and why am I agreeing to hold it?'

'Er, maybe just close your eyes, first,' Jack said, considering the object in his hand.

'Is it a surprise?'

'Sort of.'

Ianto let out a vexed breath and closed his eyes. Jack and surprises didn't always mix. Unexpectedly, the warmth that filled his hand was nice.

'Promise you won't drop it when you open your eyes?' Jack asked.

'I promise,' Ianto said.

'Okay.'

Ianto slowly opened his eyes, understanding why Jack had warned him. It was slimy and a lurid shade of neon yellow. All thoughts of how nice it felt were immediately banished from his mind as the impulse to throw it away took over.

'Ew! What is that?'

'It's meant to have telepathic properties, only I needed someone else to hold half and test the theory and the range.'

'Okay,' Ianto said slowly, eyeing the goo in his hand, noting its viscosity and how it didn't slip through his fingers, but rather jiggled in a small blob, like crazy warm jello.

'Why would someone invent telepathic slime?' he asked. 'It's not exactly convenient.' He gently clasped his hand around it and held it near his ear. 'Hello, yes, it that you, Jack? Fetch us some milk on the way home will you? Will lasagna be okay for tea?'

Jack forced himself not to roll his eyes at his lover and his senseless mockery.

'Your Welshness is endearing... to a point,'he teased.

'Fine,' Ianto said, 'go take your walkie-talkie goop and find out if it works.'

Jack grinned, giving Ianto a peck on the cheek before rushing back to his office to upend the rest of it out of the jar and into his hand. He took a few steps back and gently molded it in his hand.

"Can you hear me?"Jack's voice sung inside his head. Whoa, that was different.

"Ianto?"

'Yes, I can hear you Jack.'

Jack dropped his hand and looked at Ianto, a disappointed expression on his face.

'It's telepathic, Ianto. That means no talking is required. You're meant to speak with your mind,' he chastised.

'Sorry, but talking without my mouth is not something I usually do, and speaking my mind is an act of futility. I normally have to yell at you before you take any notice.'

'Shush,' Jack said. 'Try doing it without talking. This is important, work-related research.'

This is ridiculous, is what it is,he thought.

"Hey, I heard that!"

Bollocks.

"That too,"Jack's voice reverberated inside his head.

Decaf, decaf, decaf,Ianto thought.

"Good,"Jack said, rattling around in his head. "Now I'm going to see how far we can go." He trundled down the steps and across to the water tower.

"Can you hear me?"

"Yep."

Jack backed away towards the door that lead to the lower levels, stepping just out of sight of Ianto.

"Still hear me?"

"Uh huh."

Jack continued down the stairs to the first subbasement level

"Ianto? Are you there?"

"Yes, Jack. Where are you?"

"Standing outside the supplies room on sublevel A."

"Good, can you bring me back a spatula? Owen's left gum attached underneath his desk again."

"Funny."

"Actually, I was being serious. It'll save me a trip."

Jack continued to walk further and further away, intermittently checking in with Ianto, and receiving replies in the affirmative. When Jack hadn't checked in for a good ten minutes though, Ianto suspected he'd reached the limit of the slime's range.

He was about to put it down in Gwen's empty coffee mug and get on with tidying the main level of the hub in earnest, which was difficult to do one-handed, when suddenly his head was filled full of images and thoughts. Very naughty images and thoughts. No, that one definitely wasn't one of his.

"Ianto..."

Hearing Jack purring in his head nearly sent him undone, coupled with a few more sultry visions that weren't his own making.

"Oh..."That was the best response he could manage. "Where are you?"he finally thought.

"Far, far away..."

"How far?"

"You'll have to come find me. I can give you some little clues, but the rest is up to you."He sent Ianto a few more naughty thoughts.

"And you think that you can just tease me like that? It's not working," he said, but tugging rather sharply on his tie, trying to loosen it from its grip around his neck.

"Such a bad liar. I don't need CCTV to know that I am. I can hear your thoughts, even if you can't."

Right, well two could play at that game.

"Do you know what I'm thinking now, Jack?"he asked, sending back a whole list of naughty things. "I've got something else I'd like you to hold for a second, or maybe for more than a few seconds, if you're lucky."

He heard a little gasp inside his head and he knew he had Jack, hook, line and sinker.

"Go on, Jack,"he teased. "Tell me what you're thinking, now."

"I'm thinking I need to tell you I'm in the archives waiting for you, and that I'm going need both hands free for this."