Torchwood: Fanfic: Greens are good

[m_findlow]

Title: Greens are good
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack, OCs
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 577 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for badly_knitted's prompt "Any, any, eat your greens" at fic_promptly
Summary: There are multiple ways to skin a cat when parenting

Ianto glanced over the top of his glass of wine at the three tiny bodies seated around the table. 'Eat your veggies, Tom,' he said, before taking a sip.

'I don't like them,' his seven year old son complained. 'They taste yuck.'

'You ate your potatoes and pumpkin.'

'They're different,' he said, pushing the peas around the plate.

'They're good for you. Don't you want to grow up big and strong?'

'Nope.'

Ianto resisted the urge to sigh, catching Jack's little smirk in the corner of his eye, his own eyes fixed firmly on the plate in front of him. His son was getting more and more like his dad by the day, including smart alec remarks like the one he'd just given. Jack was no doubt only pleased by this little display of rebelliousness. Just you wait until he's fifteen, Ianto thought. You'll be regretting that stubborn streak you've fostered. Bad enough they've got fiery Welsh blood running through them.

'Your sisters are eating theirs,' he replied.

Jack watched their two girls with interest. Sian looked very much like she wanted to jump on her brother's bandwagon, in the hopes that there was strength in numbers. Instead, she scooped up three or four, putting them in her mouth, and then pausing for twenty seconds whilst she willed herself to swallow them, preferably whole so they couldn't be tasted.

At the far end of row, sat their youngest, Eleri, even if only a half hour split them in age. She was quietly mashing her own with the overly large fork in her hand, mixing them in with the pumpkin to disguise them. So much her father's daughter, Jack thought, using cleverness to get around the issue.

Jack set his fork down, reaching for his own glass of wine. 'You know,' he said, 'your dad never used to eat his vegetables either. Then one day this big, nasty alien tried to take over the world and your dad wasn't strong enough to save everyone because he didn't eat his vegetables.'

'Jack!' Ianto scolded. 'Don't scare the kids.'

'Is it true, daddy?' Sian asked, her eyes as big as saucers.

'No, sweetie, it's not. Your dad likes to tell big fibs, which is naughty. Even worse than not eating your vegetables.'

'But the alien part is true,' Jack said.

'Stop it, Jack.'

'And then I came and rescued your dad and stopped the alien. I told him that if he ate his veggies, he'd be as strong and brave as me. He's been eating them ever since.'

There was a distinct silent paused around the table.

'I don't wanna be killed by an alien,' Tom said.

'Me either,' Sian agreed, and the pair of them began tucking into their vegetables in earnest. Eleri continued on as before, though she scooped them more heavily onto the fork, taking larger mouthfuls. She wasn't about to be left behind by her siblings to face aliens alone.

Ianto glared at his husband, but Jack just grinned at him like the Cheshire Cat. Co-parenting in their house often resulted in the same agreed outcome, but completely divergent tactics for getting there.

As he was washing the dishes, hands plunged deep into the hot soapy water, Jack reappeared to assist in drying them.

'If the kids have nightmares tonight about giant alien vegetables coming after them, you get to go sleep with them for the rest of the night,' Ianto said.

'Your loss,' Jack replied.