Fffc May Special Daily Challenge (May 29th) - Sound of silence

[m_findlow]

Title: Sound of silence
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 820 words
Content notes: none  
Author notes: Written for fffc May Special Daily Challenge - May 29th - "Without music, life would be a mistake" (Friedrich Nietzsche)
Summary: Ianto is in need of a muse more than he is music.

'You're doing it again,' Ianto said, looking up from his laptop at his lover perched on the other end of the sofa, ostensibly also meant to be working.

'Doing what?'

'Humming.'

'I wasn't.'

'You were.'

'Sorry,' he said, brow furrowing as he tried to focus on the task in front of him again.

Ianto settled back against the cushion, stretching out some of the cramp in his arm. Only halfway through his report to London and a long way to go yet. He suppressed a yawn and started typing again. He didn't know quite where he was going with it, but he supposed he'd figure it out along the way as he went. It was better than just sitting there staring blankly at the screen, waiting for inspiration.

He finally latched on to a train of thought, sentences forming in his head before he could put them on paper when the sound distracted him again.

'Jack!'

'What?'

'If you can't work silently I'll go have to move into the study. I really need to get this done tonight.'

'Don't go,' Jack pleaded, reaching out and grabbing him by the ankle that was half tucked under his other leg. Even though they were still working, it was nice to be able to curl up on the sofa together to do it. They never spent enough time together anymore, not with all the many responsibilities they had. 'I promise I'll be quiet. I didn't even know I was doing it.'

Ianto let the laptop fall shut for a moment. 'Is there ever a time where you're not humming, whistling, singing or otherwise moving to your own internal drumbeat?'

'What can I say? I've got music in my soul. I've got rhythm, I've got music, I've got my man, who could ask for anything more?' He even added a little upper body shuffling dance to his reply.

Ianto just rolled his eyes. 'And now the musical numbers start.'

'And you say you have no music in you,' Jack replied. 'You know enough to know that's a line from a musical.'

'Only because I've heard it about a thousand times.' Jack loved musicals, almost as much as he loved his forties jazz, often running through his repertoire in the shower, or while making toast. 'Is this one of those Boeshane things?' he asked.

Jack paused to think about it. 'No, not really. I don't think anyone back home was particularly musical. The sound of the ocean and the winds whipping up the sand dunes was music enough for us.'

'So, how on earth did you inherit this obsession?'

'Music is a universal constant, Ianto. Even if you speak a million different languages and have a thousand different ways of living, everyone understands music. I should take you to the Rings of Akhaten. People from all over the universe gather there every thousand years to sing to the gods. It's quite something.'

'I'll add it to my bucket list,' Ianto said, sounding unenthused and pulling his laptop back open.

'You should try singing, Ianto. It's very uplifting.'

'I don't sing.'

'What do you mean you don't sing? You're Welsh. I don't think there's a more musical people anywhere on Earth. It's like you were born with the genes for music. Without music, life would be a mistake.'

Ianto rolled his eyes again. He knew things were bad when Jack started quoting Nietzsche to him. At least it was one of his cheerier quotes, if you could call it that. Most of them Ianto found totally bleak and depressing. Some people were all sunshine and rainbows. Then there were the philosophers. 'I didn't say I don't like music. I just said I don't sing.'

'Well, if your normal Welsh vowels are anything to go by, I can only imagine how amazing they'd sound wrapped around a proper note. Perhaps we should test out the theory.'

Ianto flushed at that. It was one thing to hum under his breath when he was busy working down in the archives, almost unaware he was even doing it. He certainly wasn't going to do it anywhere he could be heard. Not everyone one was like Jack. The proud feeling he had standing amongst thousands of his fellow countrymen at the rugby belting out the national anthem ended at the stadium gates. There was to be no repeat performance in a more intimate setting. Jack rather overestimated his abilities.

'Perhaps we should just focus on getting these reports done for now,' he suggested. 'Without them done, there won't be much life of any kind for us.'

'That is true,' Jack confessed, knowing that Ianto wouldn't be up for any kind of fun until he was finished, his conscience clear. He'd do his very best not to let his internal repertoire get in the way. If he accidentally started humming Dolly Parton's Nine to Five, Ianto might not see the funny side.

Comments

[bk_forever]

I hope Jack managed to keep quiet long enough for Ianto to finish his report. The Ianto might be persuaded into making some beautiful music together ;)

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

When Jack is suitably incentivised there's not much he can't do. :)