m_findlow

Title: Eye of the beholder
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 645 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for fffc May Special Daily Challenge - May 19th - Beauty, Painting, Fireplace
Summary: Jack has brought home an unusual gift.

'Isn't it a beauty, Ianto?' Jack asked, unveiling his latest purchase. Ianto tried his best to keep his expression neutral as he took it in.

'I picked it up at the market this morning after having retrieved that sonic toaster. When they called it a car boot sale, I didn't think people actually still sold stuff straight out of their car boots anymore, but these people sure did. I had to dig through half a trunk full of stuff before I found it.'

'For which I'm eternally grateful,' Ianto said, glad for the lie in that meant he hadn't had to accompany Jack on this chilly winter morning down to the Bute Docks market. There'd been far too many early mornings and late nights recently. He would have been happy to kick the whole thing to someone else and kept Jack in bed with him. Surely it must have been someone else's turn for weekend rift duties, but Jack read the alert and was too full of energy not to go himself.

Unashamedly, Ianto was still wrapped up in his thick dressing gown and slippers, even though it was now past ten o'clock. A late breakfast for both of them was in order, since Ianto had nothing else to occupy his morning. He'd texted Jack to ask him to be on the lookout for anyone selling fresh eggs and apples. He fancied making French toast with lots of stewed apple and cinnamon. It turned out however Jack had not only bought him both eggs and apples, and a container of homemade coconut ice, but something of an artistic nature as well.

Jack had barely gotten it in through the door before he was calling out to Ianto and tearing off the brown paper that had kept it safe from the elements.

'You bought a painting?' Ianto asked, stepping into the living room where Jack was unwrapping it.

'Yup. Local artist and everything,' Jack beamed, finally turning it around and revealing it.

It wasn't like anything Ianto expected. In a rather abstract way, it was an image of two women, perhaps seen from above, their bodies forming a circle, although it looked rather like they were in some sort of sixty-nine position. It was a largely white canvas, the two naked women depicted solely in black outlines, with the only colour being red which detailed their hearts in their chests and their lips.

Ianto was all for art, though he tended towards landscapes, misty mountains and boats in the harbor at low tide. He could appreciate the impressionists and still life, but it seemed Jack's tastes ran more towards surrealism and the abstract. It could have been done by a five year old, judging by the haphazard way the paint had been drawn across the canvas, but then Ianto knew no five year old would paint two lesbians in a sexually explicit pose.

'It's called The Moebius Love,' Jack said. 'Isn't it brilliant? Two lovers intertwined with no end and no beginning.'

'It's certainly different,' Ianto said, trying had not to pass judgment on it. He was still getting over the initial shock of its outwardly confrontational subject matter. 'And where were you thinking of hanging it?'

'Either the bedroom or over the fireplace. What do you think?'

'Um,' he paused. He hadn't even had coffee yet and Jack was asking him where they should exhibit their latest act of rebellion against modern convention.

'It's very us, don't you think?' Jack said, admiring it. 'I just knew we had to have it.'

'Yeah,' Ianto slowly agreed. 'Hang it wherever you think is best.' Perhaps Jack had seen something in it that Ianto had yet to find. He was sure given enough time, he might come to love it as much as Jack. For now though, having to explain it to their house guests would be Jack's responsibility.