Fffc May Special Daily Challenge (May 8th) - Getting an education

[m_findlow]

Title: Getting an education
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 838 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for fffc May Special Daily Challenge - May 8th - Here's to never growing up (Avril Lavigne)
Summary: Jack is about to teach Ianto a few new lessons.

When Ianto walked into Jack's office, he was rightly annoyed to see Jack sat there, feet on the desk, doing something that looked distinctly like not working.

'Have you finished all you reports, then?' he asked, already knowing the answer.

'Nope,' Jack replied. 'But they'll still be there tomorrow.'

Ianto narrowed his eyes. 'I see. And reading comic books was deemed more important?'

'I like to think of them as additional research material. They have lots of interesting ways of defeating the bad guys. You could learn a lot.'

Ianto scoffed. 'I can't believe you'd even try to justify...' He didn't even bother trying to finish the sentence. 'Why can't you just act your age, Jack?'

He set the comic book down. 'And what age is that? I'm nearly a hundred ninety years old, and looking good if I do say so myself. There isn't  a human in all of history that's lived as long as I have. What's to say that I'm not acting exactly how you're supposed to act when you're that old?'

Ianto sighed. Why did Jack always have to be so literal. 'You know what I mean,' he said.

'Oh, so you'd prefer it if I was a doddering old man who can't remember where he left his teeth?'

'That's not what I meant, either,' he said, growing frustrated.

'Then what do you mean, Ianto?'

Jack could be so stubborn and petulant when it suited him, arguing over absolutely nothing. 'You know what I mean, Jack. Act the age you look.'

'Oh, and you can talk Mr "I'm always going to look younger than you",' he quipped. Not that he minded in the least. Ianto was just perfect at age thirty and that was how he'd stay. So what if Jack had a few years on him? They'd still be the most attractive looking couple wherever they went.

Ianto wanted to growl. Immortality was no excuse for just deciding to do whatever you liked. They might not age, but if anything, that meant they had even more responsibility than most. They could stay here and do this job a lot longer than anyone else, and survive it. It was their duty to undertake all the dangerous things to ensure that everyone else could go about the lives in safety. That didn't make it a glamorous task, or even a pleasant one. In fact, there'd been a lot of times where it had been downright awful, faced with terrible situations and without no option but to sacrifice themselves in order to prevent disaster. He'd watched Jack throw away his life hundreds of times, often in brutal and painful ways. He'd done it himself more than a few, and it never got any easier. The worst part was no longer having to watch Jack go through all of that; it was knowing that sometimes he'd be the one forced to make Jack watch as he was the one that sacrificed his own life. There were going to be a lot of long years together, and a lot of heartache along the way.

Seeing Jack here right now, in this contented little moment of happiness, made him rethink. Didn't they deserve a little time for fun as well? There'd be plenty of time for Jack to be dour and serious, forced to be their Captain, but right now, there was no emergency, no end of the world, just a quiet lull in their day where no one needed them to be urgently doing anything. Even the paperwork could wait until later.

He let out another little sigh.' I suppose I am being  a little harsh. One day I'm going to be a hundred and ninety, too.' Just saying it felt strange.

'You're only as old as you feel, Ianto.'

'So, that makes you about ten, then.'

Jack laughed. 'Growing old is inevitable. Growing up is optional.'

'Which you've embraced completely.' He picked up the comic book and scrutinized it. 'Captain America? Never heard of him.'

Jack pulled his feet off the desk and sat forward, looking incredulous. 'Seriously?'

Ianto shrugged. 'I was more of a Batman fan as a kid.'

'Oh, Ianto Jones,' Jack cried. He stood up and rushed to his bunker, descending the ladder without explanation. A few minutes later he returned with an enormous pile of comic books.

'Sit,' Jack instructed. 'You have such an education ahead of you,' he said, setting down the pile on his desk and setting them in chronological order.

'Jack, I have work to do.'

'Yes, you do,' Jack replied, setting issue number one in front of him. He settled back behind his desk and returned to his own. 'Tell me when you get to issue ten. That's one of my favourites.' Jack looked so happy right in that moment, the two of them wasting the afternoon lost in comic books, that he couldn't bear to argue.

Ianto shook his his head, settling into the chair for the remainder of the day. Here's to never growing up, he thought.

Comments

[bk_forever]

Never Heard of Cap? Ianto, say it isn't so! I grew up reading the Avengers!

I'm sure Into will learn great deal, spending the afternoon reading comic books.

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

He'll be Jack's die hard comic loving sidekick by the time they're done. :)