Slashthedrabble Challenge 490 - One man's trash

[m_findlow]

Title: One man's trash
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto/Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 500 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 490 - Trash at slashthedrabble
Summary: Ianto's quiet morning at the market doesn't go quite as planned.

Ianto couldn't help but smile as the sun broke through the patchy clouds overhead. It was a perfect day for being out and about. He wasn't sure if he could say the same for Jack, who though quietly walking beside him, looked bored to bits.

It had been Ianto's idea to spend their Sunday morning trawling the local trash and treasure markets. It was nice to give the old docks a face-lift, the council finally re-purposing them rather than letting them rot away. He was sure he'd be able to draw himself back into Jack's good graces however by tempting him with hot jam donuts covered in sugar.

Ianto couldn't explain what it was that fascinated him about old things. He had enough of them in the archives, but was always interesting to see what people were trying to sell, some of it antique, but most of it just old junk. He didn't necessarily want to buy anything, it was just the exploration that was fun. If you asked Jack, it was all junk, but he entertained Ianto's interests all the same.

Ianto had just been commenting on a set of china plates that he'd said were identical to ones he remembered being in his gran's house, and how she always served scones on them, when suddenly he felt Jack's hand ripped out of his, and Jack was running off. Perplexed but accustomed to the bizarre, Ianto did his best to give chase after his lover, accidentally jostling  people in the process, though not nearly as many as Jack. His path was obvious by the number of disgruntled marketgoers.

He finally caught up, finding Jack's fist gripped tightly around the collar of a black man.

'Jack, what on earth?'

'Not Earth,' he said. 'This guy is a crook. Remember him from my Agency days. Likes to peddle illegal goods.'

'Geroff me!'

'I thought you'd been given fifteen years in a Shadow Proclamation detention centre?' Jack said.

'Did my time,' he replied.

'And now? I think we'd like to take a look at your little stall,' Jack said, shoving him forward.

Ianto looked around skeptically as they were shown the meager tables full of wares. 'It all looks pretty everyday to me,' he said.

'Don't believe it for a second,' Jack said. 'Scan it.'

Ianto patiently and subtly pulled out his PDA, which he never went anywhere without, carefully scanning each item in turn. 'There's nothing, Jack. Nothing alien, or illegal.' More annoying was how Jack had managed to ruin their one morning off with his overzealous attitude, rightly or wrongly.

'Told you,' the man said, pulling himself out of Jack's grip.  

'Why?' Jack demanded.

'Don't you read the news? Black market in Quadrant Nine collapsed. I fell on hard times. Real hard. Look at me, stuck on this backwater selling junk. Brother's got to make a living somehow, you know.'

'Well, you know what they say,' Ianto said, trying to sympathise. 'One man's trash...'

'Is still just trash,' Jack finished.

Comments

[bk_forever]

Jack's going to have to do something now to make Ianto happy after spoiling his day, rather than the other way around. Should apologise to the reformed alien too.

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

Jack is never truly off the clock. I think Ianto will forgive him his enthusiasm. You can never be too careful with crooked aliens.