m_findlow

Title: A wide berth
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 911 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 80 - Wide at beattheblackdog
Summary: Ianto may be over analysing Jack's choice of words.

'Whatcha doing?' Jack asked, seeing Ianto wipe his brow as he stood there surrounded by boxes of God only knew what. He knew he should come and check on Ianto more often when he was working down here in the archives. There was every chance that one day he was going to become buried alive in his determination to sort out the decades of accumulated mess.

'Tidying up, what does it look like?' he huffed. He stood up straight, hearing his back click unnaturally in places it shouldn't for someone of his age and relative fitness. These damn archives were going to be the death if him. 'Only at the rate you people dump stuff down here, I'll be old and grey before I even clear away enough of it to free myself from being blocked in by it all!' Just the sight of so many boxes filled him with frustration.

'Here, let me help then,' Jack said, picking up a box and moving it to one side, without any clue what he should do with it. Ianto no doubt had a system of some sort, but it was beyond Jack's comprehension. Perhaps if he just made a start, Ianto would point him in the right direction. Instead, Ianto just stood there in the middle of the mess and stared blankly at him.

'Why?' he asked.

Jack stared back at him. 'Why what?'

'Why have you decided to help?'

The question confused Jack. 'Why not?'

Ianto fixed him with a serious look. 'Because I'm never sure of your motives when you suddenly offer to do something you'd usually avoid like the plague.' He knew all too well how hard it was to get Jack to do anything he didn't want to. What was the old saying? You could lead a horse to water, but you couldn't the make it do its paperwork?

Jack gave him a coy little smile. 'Well, maybe I just want to help out because I love you.'

Ianto nearly dropped the box he was clutching. Jack never used the L word, giving it a wide berth. They both did, in truth.

Ianto could only remember having said it the once, and that had been exceptional circumstances. That day they'd been trapped in Thames House he'd been absolutely certain that this was the end. A virus with no cure and he was as good as dead. He couldn't have said he was ready for it; was anyone every really ready to die? He knew one thing though - if this was the end, he wasn't going to leave Jack wondering how he felt. And then by some miracle neither of them could quite understand, Jack had saved him; either cured him or resurrected him from death. But even in that moment, Jack had never said it. It was the reason why Ianto had avoided saying it ever since.

He couldn't deny that Jack cared about him a great deal, but love was a whole other level. He couldn't even fathom Jack saying it and properly meaning it. Probably just a slip of the tongue, he supposed. It was bound to happen some time. Then again, maybe he should take it as a sign that something was wrong. If Jack was incapable of saying the word, then maybe this wasn't Jack at all. He'd worked for Torchwood long enough to know that people could become compromised. Only the tiniest flaws might give them away. Could that be what this was?

'Okay, who are you and what have you done to Jack?'

Jack laughed, seeing the very serious expression on Ianto's face. It was lucky Ianto wasn't armed, or Jack suspected he might be looking down the barrel of a gun right now. 'It's me, Ianto,' he said, raising his arms in mock surrender. 'No hidden agenda other than wanting to spend more time with you. I kinda figure the quicker you get this done, the more time we have later for just hanging out.'

'Oh. So, you're not an alien masquerading as Jack?'

'What made you think that? I don't avoid work that much, do I?'

Ianto shuffled awkwardly. 'No, it was just what you said.'

Jack cocked his head to one side. 'What did I say?' He couldn't even remember the exact words, but clearly Ianto had read something into them, which made him intensely curious.

'Oh, it was nothing really.'

Jack stepped closer. 'If it was nothing, you wouldn't have mentioned it.'

Ianto swallowed hard. If he'd been giving the L word a wide berth, it was nothing compared to the conversation around the use of the word.

'C'mon, what did I say that's got you so flustered?'

'Nothing.'

'Ianto... Don't make me access the CCTV files,' Jack warned.

Ianto growled, knowing Jack would indeed go to such extraordinary lengths. 'You just said you wanted to help out because you loved me.'

'Oh, is that all? Why make such a fuss over that? Of course I want to help. You don't even have to ask.' He leaned forward and pecked Ianto on the cheek. 'Now tell me where you want this stuff moved.'

Ianto shook his head. Even now Jack had completely missed the point. Consciously or unconsciously, he still, couldn't pin Jack down on whether he'd meant to use the word.

'That shelf, over there,' he pointed absently.

'No worries,' Jack said, hefting the box with a smile. Anything for the man he loved, he thought.