Torchwood: Fanfic: Good first impression

[m_findlow]

Title: Good first impression 
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Suzie, Owen, Tosh, Ianto 
Author: m_findlow 
Rating: PG
Length: 1,013 words 
Content notes: none 
Author notes: Written for juliet316's prompt "Torchwood, team, the first cup of Ianto's coffee" at fic_promptly
Summary: Ianto makes a good first impression on his new teammates

Jack couldn't keep the smile off his face as he surreptitiously watched his teammates around the boardroom table. If the smell hadn't alerted them as to what was to come, then they were in for a real surprise. 

No one had quite fathomed out yet why Jack had hired this strange young man, standing there dressed in his suit. He looked too young for a start, younger probably once you dressed him in regular street clothes. As far as they could tell, he didn't profess to have any specialised skills; he wasn't a computer nut like Tosh, or a medical expert like Owen. He didn't look like any kind of scientist or psychologist, botanist, anthropologist or anything else ending in "ist". 

All they knew was what Owen had told them. He'd been called in to check over their latest guest from the rift, a pterodactyl, who was apparently being adopted and had already been named. The man had been there when he'd arrived, supposedly having assisted Jack with the capture. No one knew anything else about him. 

Suzie had already tasked Tosh with pulling up his records, but they were spectacularly uninteresting. Perhaps Jack had already expunged certain items from it, or replaced it completely. He'd never hire someone so boring. Maybe he was from one of those special branches of the military. He looked too skinny to be special forces, but maybe he was some kind of military or tactical genius. There had to be something to it. Even Jack didn't just go around hiring pretty faces and nice arses. If he did, they'd have been inundated with superficial airheads. 

Suzie watched as the young man fussed with a tray of cups. Good, she thought, at least he was making himself useful by sorting out tea and coffee. She'd spotted him earlier tidying up around the place without so much as a word. He never even stopped to ask where things went, as if he psychically knew already. Maybe he was a physic. That could be handy. He could tell them when they might be finally able to have a day off from the rift. Tosh's computer program was getting better at predicting trouble from the rift, but it was far from a perfect science. 

As he slowly and silently moved around table, setting down their mugs. Tosh smiled at him and thanked him. He seemed like such a nice boy, if shy. She was shy too though, and she knew how intimidating this place could be. She was sure he'd find his feet. 

As he set the final mug down next to Jack's files on the table, Jack beamed at him.

'Thank you, Ianto.' 

'Will that be all, Sir?' 

'Yes.' Just as quickly and quietly, he picked up the empty tray and left. 

Jack hovered the mug close to his face, taking in the glorious smell before sipping. Recruitment genius, he thought, letting the slightly sweet, bitter concoction dance on his tongue. 

'Okay,' he said, 'who wants to kick things off?' 

Suzie flipped open her file, picking up the mug and taking a mouthful before beginning. She stopped, mug frozen in her hand. 

'Something wrong, Suzie?' Jack asked, barely containing his grin. 

'No. Just... that's really amazing coffee.' She took another sip. 'Wow,' she said. 'I mean, really good.' 

Tosh tried her own. She was generally a tea drinker, but first thing in the morning she needed coffee to get her going. It had become part of her morning ritual, ever since she'd started working here, picking up takeaway coffee on the way to work. She bought one for Jack as well, and then for Suzie when she'd started. Now she bought four, carried in a cardboard tray every day, doling them out when she arrived. Only Owen often turned up late, or not at all, so his was cold, reheated in the microwave, but never as good as when it had been fresh. This however was far better than any coffee she'd ever bought. Her face said it all. 

'Oh, get off,' Owen moaned. 'It's just bloody coffee, it can't be that good.' He swigged his own, before sculling half of it in one go. 

'I take it all back,' he said. 'There's coffee, and there's this.' 

Jack smiled. Owen was right on the money. It had been his first reaction when Ianto had shoved the mug in his face that morning on the quay. This was in a class all its own. Plus, they were finally getting use out of that enormous coffee machine. He'd bought it years ago on the premise that they could stop having to go out and buy coffee all the time, but no one had ever been able to get the damn thing working. Even Tosh was at a loss, and she could make anything work. Well, the machine worked; it just didn't taste right when Tosh made it. 

'You hired a professional barrista?' Suzie said. 

'No,' Jack replied. 'That just seems to be one of his many skills, and something of a passion, I gather. He was quite vocal about the state our coffee machine was in.' In fact, he'd been quite vocal, in his own quiet and understated way, about the state of most of the hub. It hadn't taken long for Jack to find the square hole to fit his square peg into. 

'He's going to be helping get our administration side of things sorted. Mainly our archives and records, but also as general support to free up our time for other things.'

'And coffee making is on that list of duties?' Owen asked. 

'It can be,' Jack answered. 'But just so you know, he's not here to be a waiter. He'll have his own duties and projects to attend to as well.'

'So long as he makes coffee, I don't care if the only other thing he does is go around shagging you all day,' Owen said, gulping down the rest of his brew. 

Jack smiled. That didn't sound like such a bad idea. Why hadn't he thought of that? 

Comments

[bk_forever]

Patience, Jack. You'll get plenty of shagging later, but only if you're a good boy and do your paperwork ;)

[jo02]

Lol, who does Jack think he's kidding :)