m_findlow

Title: What everyone else has
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Rhys
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,541 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 94 - Disappoint at beattheblackdog
Summary: It's hard to imagine why anyone would want to put up with them.

'Sucked out of a spaceship into the vacuum of space. Not how I imagined I'd go,' Rhys said.

'Relax,' Jack replied, leaning back again the wall of the airlock. He'd already tried everything he could think of to release the inner lock door, or to get in contact with whomever was piloting the ship, but at a guess, it was abandoned, and no one was coming to let them out. How'd they'd ever been transported up here in the first place was still a mystery. 'We're not down and out yet. The others will find us.'

'They don't even know we're bloody up here!'

That much was true, but Jack knew Gwen and Ianto never gave up on anything. They'd find a way to trace the signal from his vortex manipulator, assuming he was still somewhere within the solar system where the range of their sensors might find it.

'Gwen will probably just cut her losses,' Rhys said. 'She might bend over backwards to save you, but me?'

Jack shook his head good humoredly. 'Gwen loves you. There's not much she wouldn't do.' Jack knew better than to stand in between Gwen and what she wanted, especially if the thing he was standing in the way of was Rhys. That was one argument he knew he'd never win.

Rhys scoffed. 'That's why she spends all her time with you lot, then, is it?'

'It's the job,' Jack replied. 'It doesn't observe the niceties of normal relationships.' He knew that better than anyone. Torchwood was anything but normal.

'How am I supposed to compete with you lot and your flashy clothes and your guns, swanning about saving the world from dangerous aliens?' he complained.

Jack looked up at him. 'You're not.'

'Yeah, that sounds about right,' Rhys said, wandering across to the other side of the cramped airlock, peering tentatively out at the blackness of space. He expected a million stars, but there was nothing out there. Typical. Even his death was going to be spectacularly disappointing.

Jack stretched out his leg, trying to keep it from falling asleep. Unlike Rhys, he'd given up pacing the narrow space an hour ago, conserving energy. It was good old Time Agency training kicking in. 'What I mean is, you don't have to,' Jack said.

'Can't, you mean.' He brushed a hand through his hair. 'Keep thinking one day I'm gonna come home and find all Gwen's stuff gone. She'll text me and tell me she's decided to run off with you, or Ianto, or both. Never see her again.'

'Rhys, that's never gonna happen.'

'Why not? Seriously Jack, what am I supposed to give her that you can't? All I do is push trucks around the country. Not very exciting is it? Not going to get the adrenaline pumping. Not a lot of sex appeal, discussing the merits of adding a third lane to the A468 and what a nightmare the new one way system is.'

'Ah,' Jack chuckled, 'finally something we can agree on. Let's talk about that. I hate the one way system. St Mary's Street on a Saturday morning is particularly bad.'

'It's not funny, Jack. All I keep thinking is what a sodding disappointment I must be when Gwen's got you and Torchwood.'

Jack leaned his head back against the wall, staring across at Rhys. 'Wanna know something?'

'What?'

'I keep wondering the self same thing.'

'What, about Gwen?'

'No. I keep wondering when Ianto's going to fall in love with someone like you.'

Rhys spun and flashed an angry look at him. 'Me? Now listen here, mate. I'm not bender or anything. I've never done anything to insinuate that I'm interested in anything like that. Well, I mean there was that one time I lived in his laundry for two weeks and cooked him dinner every night, but that was completely work related.' He wasn't about the mention the shape-shifter version of Ianto that had snogged him right there in the kitchen. He didn't that would help his case any.

Jack had to laugh. 'Not you, Rhys. I said someone like you.'

'Eh?' Rhys pulled a face. 'I'm confused, now. Are we still talking about the same thing?'

'Yes.'

'What would Ianto want with someone like me when he's got you?'

Jack let out a long breath. 'Ianto is... uncomplicated. He likes the simple things in life. He deserves someone equally uncomplicated. Someone to come home to at night, who cooks lasagna for him and wants to sit on the couch at night watching TV, or reading books.'

He always felt like he was playing second fiddle to someone who didn't exist yet. What would happen if a pretty face caught Ianto's eye. Not that he thought Ianto was vain, but what would happen if someone propositioned him? Someone who could make him laugh and engage in intelligent conversation, someone who worked nine to five, cooked meals, did laundry. Someone who would go for walks in the park on a Sunday morning, and spend all Sunday afternoon dozing on the couch together. Someone who didn't make excuses, keep secrets, hold part of themselves at arms length. Someone who wasn't pretending to be someone else because it was easier than facing up to the person they'd been before. Someone who wasn't a complete screw up. Most importantly, someone who Ianto could grow old with, who wouldn't be resented because their face never changed, and nor did their habits. One chance at a normal life. If it ever happened, he wouldn't stand in its way, though it would break his heart to let Ianto go.

Rhys came over and at down next to him. 'I don't know about you, mate, but Ianto strikes me as anything but uncomplicated. Fastidious to a fault, perhaps a little bit obsessive compulsive,' which made Jack chuckle, 'but generally sane, all things considered.'

Rhys had gotten to know him better these past few years. He was very intelligent, and he didn't put up with nonsense. Jack might seem ridiculous at times, but he didn't imagine Ianto would put up with it if there wasn't more to Jack than his film star good looks. 'If he wanted plain and boring, why would he be with you?'

'If Gwen wanted exciting and flashy, why would she be with you?' Jack countered.

Yes, Jack saw the way she grabbed the job by both hands, relishing the excitement and the danger, always eager to see what new thing each day might bring them. But at the end of every day, it was Rhys she went home to, Rhys she called during that day when things were getting crazy, and it was that normality in her life that kept her focused, reminding Jack what is was to be human in the twenty-first century.

'You're her rock, Rhys. She needs you, and you're good for her. You remind her that there are more important things than Torchwood. That's so much better than anything I could ever give her. Gwen needs normal, and I can't give her that.'

'And maybe Ianto doesn't want normal,' Rhys replied. 'Maybe he wants more than just some boring old office job and repeats of Midsomer Murders.'

That was true, Jack supposed. He'd always hated his life before Torchwood; the estate, the gangs, the feeling that there was no escaping it. He'd loved working in London, working for Torchwood, feeling like he was finally making something of himself before it all came crumbling down. After that he should've wanted to run away from it all, but instead he ran towards it. He never wanted Jack to know how insignificant he'd been. Instead he'd dreamt himself up a whole other life, where his dad was a master tailor, something to be proud of. That was why he always dressed in the best suits, made the best coffee, drove the most expensive car he could afford at the time. He didn't want to be just anyone, he wanted to be someone. He needed someone to validate that sense of worth. He'd been the one who had made all the moves on Jack, not the other way around. He could have picked anyone; anyone at all, but he'd picked Jack.

Jack did this job out of a sense of duty, and because he loved the rush. He did it because no one else could or wanted to. It hadn't occurred to him that someone else might share that feeling.

He was about to laugh out loud at the absurdity of the pair of them, worrying about their lovers walking out on them for something better, when his wrist strap lit up, beginning to beep insistently. He didn't have to guess to know it was Gwen and Ianto, having locked onto their signal. They weren't going to die. Not today.

'Alright, Rhys. Are you ready to go home and be a disappointment to the woman who loves you?'

'Do I get a choice?'

Jack smiled and grabbed his hand tightly.

'Is the hand holding strictly necessary?' Rhys asked, feeling awkward.

'I'm not sure, but why risk it?' Jack replied. 'Besides, if things with Gwen and Ianto don't work out when we get back, this could be the start of a beautiful partnership.'