m_findlow

Title: A splash of colour
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 696 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge r18.03 - Colour at fffc
Summary: Jack is sporting more colour than usual.

Ianto frowned as he saw Jack waltz back into the hub after being out all morning.

'Um, weren't you wearing a blue shirt when you left this morning?' The question was of course rhetorical. He'd put it out for Jack himself, matching it up with the standard grey trousers and grey braces, having made sure it hadn't gotten crumpled in the wardrobe. He was ready and armed to give it a quick press if need be, but it appeared sufficiently lacking in creases.

'Uh, yeah,' Jack confessed, looking down at his shirt as if noticing for the first time that it was the deepest shade of purple. 'D'you like it?'

Ianto frowned at him, partly because Jack had avoided properly answering his question, and partly because he wasn't sure about the colour. Jack, for all his outlandish behaviour, didn't really wear such bold colours. He almost always wore pale blue, sometimes pale green, and occasionally that dark navy that Ianto secretly loved. Mostly though, that was because it was the wardrobe Ianto had become accustomed to seeing him in, so it was those same colours he kept buying when Jack had destroyed whatever shirts remained. Jack didn't do bright colours like reds and purples, and pale pink just wasn't very dignified for the leader of a top secret organisation. Once upon a time, Ianto would never have chosen those colours for himself either, but he'd grown into them, matching them up with far more conservative charcoals and blacks. For Jack however, they really just didn't work, and nothing but blue matched in with his ever faithful coat which went with him everywhere. Coordinated was high on Ianto's list of things Jack should be before he considered leaving the hub.

'Why do I get the feeling you're picturing what's underneath the shirt instead of it?' Jack asked, watching the curious expression on his lover's face as he hadn't yet responded to the question.

'I wasn't,' Ianto quickly replied, blushing involuntarily. 'I just... well, it's not really your colour, if I'm honest.'

Jack pinched the grape coloured fabric between his fingers and frowned. 'I know, I was thinking the same thing. On you however, it would look very delicious.'

'Down boy,' Ianto warned. 'You still haven't explained how you left this morning wearing one shirt and came back with another. Did you find some bizarre colour changing device that went off when you picked it up?'

'Nope, although something certainly went off.'

He never did figure out what the small coppery box was for, and then without warning it exploded. Luckily he'd been in a side alley at the time, dying and resurrecting in private, but the sound had caught the attention of a passer-by who'd tentatively called out to him from the top of the alley to make sure he was okay.

'Were you hurt?' Ianto asked, inferring from Jack's comment that something had happened.

'Nothing I couldn't handle,' Jack lied. Just once every now and again it didnt hurt to not tell Ianto he'd died in the line of duty. 'My shirt however didn't hold up quite so well.'

'Looks okay, now.'

'A passer-by let me borrow his shirt.'

'Oh?' Ianto folded his arms and narrowed his eyes at Jack. 'And so what is he wearing now, or did you leave him wandering about half naked?' Please, please, say no, Ianto prayed.

Jack laughed. 'Not the shirt he was wearing, Ianto! He'd been shopping, saw the state of my shirt and offered me to take the one he'd bought.'

'That's rather generous.'

'I offered to pay him for it.'

'And he just happened to be the same size as you?'

'Pretty close,' Jack replied, having noticed the almost perfect fit for himself as he gratefully slipped the shirt on. 'I didn't take down his particulars, but if you're interested...'

'Let's just chalk it up to a random act of kindness and leave it at that, shall we?'

'Works for me,' Jack said, 'although this shirt really doesn't, nice as it is. Think you could help me slip into something more comfortable?'

'This way, sir,' Ianto said, indicating Jack's bunker. 'We have a lovely selection of blue on offer today.'