Anythingdrabble Challenge 39 - A right mess

[m_findlow]

Title: A right mess
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Jack, Ianto
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Challenge 39 - Dump at anythingdrabble
Summary: Ianto is quickly finding his place at Torchwood.

It was hard to take in the sight of it all, the mess that was strewn all over the place. How on earth did they live like this? Ianto wondered. Everywhere he looked he spotted bits of food wrappers, pizza boxes and crushed tin soda cans. In amongst that were lolly wrappers, scrunched up balls of paper, things that might be alien, or just broken, and more bits of loose paper. It was like a scene from the news, when they went in and filmed after a cyclone had ravaged some town, leaving mess everywhere. Perhaps that's what had happened here. Then he remembered that it had been like this yesterday, and the day before. He hadn't wanted to be presumptuous, assuming it would sort itself out, but that hadn't happened either.

Jack had given him a pile of filing, hoping to give his newest recruit something useful to do apart from making coffee and tending to their new prehistoric resident. He'd finished that with hours to spare, surprising Jack with both his proficiency and his efficiency. Jack had then suggested the archives might be a good sort of thing for him to work his magic on. He readily agreed, since it was not dissimilar to what he was accustomed to doing, and it would also give him large swathes of time completely unsupervised. If anything, it was the perfect place for him to be, allowing him to find his way around, picking the right spot where he could hide Lisa from prying eyes, and even bring her in under the cover of dark, under the auspices of working late.

Not that it helped him now, standing here in the cool light of morning, standing in the middle of the hub, seeing the mess.

'Morning!' Jack chirped, smiling and standing there in what Ianto could tell was a fresh shirt, straight out of the packet, still creased in places it shouldn't be. He must have caught the look on Ianto's face because he stopped dead, the smile falling from his own. 'What's wrong?'

'The place is a dump. And I mean that in the nicest possible way, sir,' he added, remembering that he was still on probation. It wouldn't do to lose his job now after everything he'd had to do to earn it.

Jack looked slightly guilty and a little embarrassed, Ianto catching the slight movement of his boot as he edged a wad of paper further under Owen's desk and out of sight. 'It's only a little messy.'

'A little?'

'We get busy,' Jack said, his confidence growing. 'Housekeeping is not high on the agenda when there's a whole planet to save.'

Ianto sighed. 'I'll sort it out,' he said, volunteering himself. He needed something to take his mind off worrying about Lisa, and this disaster was bound to keep him occupied sufficiently to hide any fears that might be etched into his expression.

'Good man,' Jack said, clapping him on the back. 'I'll leave you to it.'