Torchwood: Fanfic: Winter Woolies

[m_findlow]

Title: Winter woolies
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,058 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for badly_knitted's prompt "Torchwood, Jack/Ianto, Woolly jumpers" at fic_promptly
Summary: Ianto's gift is less than well received

'What's in the bag?' Jack asked, always hating it when Ianto kept surprises from him, eyeing the bags over the rim of his coffee mug.

'A present, for both of us.'

'Ooh, I like the sound of that,' Jack grinned, already thinking of all the possibilities. Presents he could share with Ianto were the best kind.

'Here you go,' he said, handing over the large paper tote, watching as Jack pulled the item out, madly ripping off the paper that it was so carefully wrapped in. It was already clear it wasn't a toy of any kind, but that didn't stop Jack's excitement until he was all the way through destroying the tissue paper, leaving it in tiny bits all over his desk and the floor. His face fell when he finally saw what it was, pulling it up to examine it.

'It's a jumper,' he said, sounding about as unenthusiastic as it was possible. It was somewhere between a dark navy and a grey, with a very subtle pattern in the knit itself.

'What am I supposed to do with this?'

Ianto rolled his eyes. 'What do you think?'

'It's boring.'

'I thought it looks quite classy. It's pure wool.'

'One man's classy is another man's boring,' Jack replied, pushing it away.

'Well, I think it looks nice,' Ianto insisted.

'I thought you said it was a joint present? Please tell me you don't have a matching one. I don't want us to be one of those geriatric couples that dress the same.'

'Speak for yourself,' Ianto huffed. 'Some of us are still in the under thirties club, old, man. And no, they're not exactly matching.'

He pulled out the second bag and delicately unwrapped his own jumper, a soft v-neck in a deep claret colour that would have looked equally at home over jeans as it would have formal black pants.

'Well, see now that's okay,' Jack argued, 'and I'd very much like to see you wearing that. I'm just not really a woolly jumpers kinda guy.'

Ianto tried not to take offense, simply picking it up off Jack's desk and taking it with him to put away in their wardrobe.

The following day was a busy one by Torchwood standards, and had its traditional chaotic start at the ungodly hour of four am. By three that afternoon they'd already chased down a giant starfish that ate shopping trolleys, spent two hours giving travel directions to a spaceship that had gotten horribly lost, but didn't seem to speak any alien tongue they could converse in, with them having to resort to drawing pictures to show them how to take a left at the end of the Milky Way and then a seventy-five degree turn when they were seven light years as past Delta Nine Six. Then things got worse when a group of council workers went down to do maintenance works on a section of Cardiff sewerage system that was a designated hot zone for weevils. By the time the team had fished out the terrified workers, sedated the weevils and retconned everybody involved, they were soaked through with filthy smelling sewer water, and no amount of showering seemed to get rid of the smell completely.

By the time it was eight o'clock and Jack and Ianto had crashed onto the sofa, ready to tuck into the semi warm remnants of the pizza they'd abandoned two hours ago in favour of a poorly timed incident in the hothouse, which once resolved was celebrated, they were surely convinced that their day must be officially over. Then the rift alarm went off.

'You've got to be kidding me,' Jack growled. 'Can't a guy be left in peace for five minutes to enjoy pizza and his boyfriend?'

'Looks like it's coming from an industrial meat packing plant,' Ianto confirmed. 'Small signal. Probably just some junk.'

'Yeah, alright,' Jack moaned, 'the sooner we go, the sooner we can get back.'

They made their way to the car and Jack folded his hands under his armpits.

'Nippy out tonight,' he remarked, watching his breath form a small cloud as it left his mouth.

'They're predicting frost and maybe some snow.'

Ianto watched as Jack tried to warm himself up. With his coat too wet and putrid smelling, he was getting about in just his shirt.

'You must be freezing,' Ianto said.

'I'm fine. Let's go.'

'Bloody hell it's cold in here,' Jack complained when they arrived, lockpicking the large doors and letting themselves inside.

'I told you to dress warmer,' Ianto chastised. 'Lucky for you I packed an extra layer,' he said, returning to the car and retrieving extra clothes for Jack. He grinned as he handed over the blue woolen jumper. Jack pulled a face, but tugged it on all the same. Ianto was already wearing his, as well as a scarf and gloves.

It took them about an hour of wandering around the maze of rooms full of machinery and large storage shelves packed high with boxes full of vacuum-packed meat. Finally they found what they were after. It did indeed turn out to be junk. A broken radio and a box of old records, wedged in behind a giant mincing machine.

'Thank goodness for small graces,' Jack said, happy not to have to babysit anything alien this evening. They each picked up the radio and the box of records and packed them neatly in the boot of the car, before heading back to the hub.

'What a day,' Jack said, leaning back in his chair as Ianto brought them a round of hot coffee to warm them back up.

'You can take it off now,' Ianto said.

'Huh?'

'The jumper. The one you hate so much,' Ianto replied.

'Oh,' Jack said, caught by surprise. 'I was actually thinking it was quite nice and warm. Soft too. And it's definitely my colour.'

Ianto folded his arms. 'Jack Harkness, are you telling me you've changed your mind?'

'Maybe,' he said defensively. 'Plus, it was a gift after all. I probably should have been a little more grateful.'

'Yes, you probably should have,' Ianto said, but keeping things light.

'Well, I'm very grateful that I didn't freeze to death tonight. How's that?'

'It's a start.'

'What's say I show you my gratitude by my letting you take my jumper off. Very slowly.'

Comments

[bk_forever]

Yes, Jack, you really should be more appreciative of thoughtful gifts, especially anything that keeps you warm and cosy!