Torchwood: Fanfic: Adult play time

[m_findlow]

Title: Adult play time
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 670 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for m_findlow's prompt "Any, any, connect four" at fic_promptly
Summary: Who says you're too big to play kids games?

'Ianto!' Jack yelled out.

He sighed, finished hanging towels in the bathroom and padding down the stairs to follow the sound of Jack's voice, which sounded very much like it had come from their living room. 'What have you done now?' he asked, before coming to a dead stop in the doorway. 'Oh my.'

'This is one of those moments where I claim ignorance for what just happened.'

Ianto had slowly gotten used to the idea that their living room would never be tidy to the exacting standards he'd once held. It had been a hard enough ask when it had just been Jack and himself. Now with three kids, there was a permanent air of disarray. Something happened when you became a parent, Ianto realised, in that mess became partly invisible, and you only targeted the things that were most important, like things that were dangerous. Everything else was just unimportant mess.

To his credit, Jack did what he could to try and stow away toys and books when he could, which is apparently what he'd been doing just now. Five minutes before their living room had been overtaken by a giant version of Connect Four.

'I was packing everything away in the toy box, when I accidentally stood on something,' Jack explained. He held it up and showed Ianto. 'What's this doing here?'

Ianto took it from his hand, feeling guilty. 'Oops.'

'I thought we agreed that nothing Torchwood comes home?' Jack said, looking stern, which was usually Ianto's task when Jack did something silly.

'I'm sorry, cariad. I think it was in my coat pocket when I came home. I was so tired I just dumped the coat on the end of the sofa and didn't give it a second thought. It must've fallen out and gotten mixed up in the toys.'

'You're lucky it wasn't anything dangerous!' Jack said, getting angry. 'What if one of the kids had found it and not me?'

'I know! I'm sorry!' he said, getting angry back. He would never do anything to endanger their family. There'd just been so many long hours lately, it was a wonder he made it home some nights without falling asleep at the wheel and wrapping the car around a tree.

Jack grabbed him and hugged him, sensing his distress. 'I don't mean to be mad at you. I know if it was anything dangerous you'd never have put it in your pocket, and that you're always a careful.'

'Clearly not enough,' he replied, hugging back, before pulling away. He knelt down and picked up one of the Connect Four pieces, large as a dinner plate. The board itself was now seven feet high and more than that across. 'Well, what do we do now?'

'We can still play it,' Jack said.

'Only we need a step ladder to reach the top and slot the pieces in. Plus it's taking up the entire living room.'

Jack slumped on the sofa, looking down at the small pen-shaped device. 'Well, it did what it's designed to do. It did make it bigger.'

'I suppose it can go in the shed out the back back for now until we figure out something,' Ianto said, collecting up the red and yellow pieces and stacking them on the coffee table.

'We could have a whole park full of giant board games,' Jack suggested.

'We'll charge admission,' Ianto joked, picturing the scene. There were plenty of oversized chess boards around, but no one else would have equally large scrabble set, snakes and ladders big enough for real ladders, hippo-sized hungry hippos... Mousetrap would be quite a sight to see.

Jack suddenly sprang off the sofa and raced for the door.

'Where are you going?'

'I just realised that we could use it to blow up the kids bouncy castle!'

Ianto rolled his eyes before coming to a shocking realisation and bolting out through the door, yelling after Jack.

'Jack! Wait! The backyard isn't big enough! You'll flatten the neighbour's fences!'

Comments

[bk_forever]

I think they need to buy some extra land if they want somewhere for their giant games!