Slashthedrabble Challenge 489 - Back to school

[m_findlow]

Title: Back to school
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto/Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 500 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 489 - Teacher at slashthedrabble
Summary: A visit to the school leaves Ianto feeling very nervous.

'Stop fidgeting!' Jack complained, Ianto wringing his hands for the hundredth time as they walked toward the plain grey building.

'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I can't help it. We've never done this before.'

Jack chuckled at the phrase. There were lots of things that once upon a time he and Ianto had never done together, but never had Ianto seemed so nervous and wound up about any of them.

Most of the time he probably hadn't even seen it coming, but there was no surprise this time. All the time in the world to mentally prepare themselves, but it seemed impossible to settle his husband.

'Relax, Ianto. It's a parent teacher interview. The first of many, no doubt.'

'Exactly!' He'd always associated these gatherings with bad tidings. Usually his failure to please his own teachers as a boy, resulting in his parents down at the local school to hear for themselves how he was distracted in class, hung out with the wrong crowd and how he had potential if he'd only apply himself, which he wasn't.

'They're six,' Jack replied. 'How bad could their report be?'

'I don't know,' Ianto said. 'Perhaps we have no idea what we're doing. We've never been parents before. We're not exactly what you'd call a conventional family.'

He wanted to grab Jack's hand and squeeze it, but who knew how that would go down if someone saw. He didn't have time to argue further before they were through the double doors, down the carpeted hallway and standing at the threshold of the classroom, the grade one teacher Mrs Winter sat at her desk waiting for them.

'It's lovely to finally meet you both,' she said, raising from her desk.

Jack took the extended hand and shook it. 'It seems our reputation precedes us,' he joked.

'I'm not sure what that reputation is,' she replied, her cadence anything but cold like her namesake. 'But... parents do talk. It's all I have to go on, really. Your children say very little about you. I'm just filling in the gaps.'

That took Ianto by surprise. It seemed impossible that their brood could keep silent on everything that went on in their lives. Kids liked to boast, even when they'd been told not to say a word, assuming anyone would believe them.

'Is there some problem?' Ianto asked, cutting to the chase.

'None at all,' she replied. 'I really just wanted to meet you. It's not often I get children who are  so pleasant, hard working and well-behaved all the time. It might be I want to know what your secret is so that I can share it with the parents of my other students.'

'Oh,' Ianto said, the comment stopping him dead. He'd come here expecting the worst, or even to be hated, two men raising three children. Society still had a long way to go before being accepting of families like theirs.

'It's all Ianto,' Jack confessed. 'He's the brains. I just contribute the good looks.'

Comments

[bk_forever]

Typical Jack comment, and not true. Ianto is gorgeous too ;)

Honestly though, Jack is intelligent in his own way and the kids have just got the best qualities of both their parents.

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

They're blessed to have looks and brains from both sides. :)