m_findlow

Title: Dressed for the occasion
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 547 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for samuraiter's prompt "Any, any, in the kitchen, wearing an apron (...and nothing else)" at fic_promptly
Summary: Ianto is dressed for the occasion.

It was the smell that woke Jack from slumber. He slowly twisted under the sheets and stretched, knowing that if he could smell what he thought he could, that there was no one in the bed next to him about to complain that they'd been whacked by a stray arm. He lay there for a moment longer, enjoying the warm sunshine streaming through their bedroom window before the smell made his mouth water. He had to get up now whilst they were still hot. They always tasted better fresh out of the pan.

As he padded down the carpeted steps and through the hall into the kitchen, the sight caught him by surprise.

There was Ianto standing over the stove, making those delicious pancakes he could smell. That wasn't what surprised him, though. Rather, it was the two pert butt cheeks that poked out of the back of his apron.

'Is it my birthday?' Jack asked, realising that Ianto was wearing his apron and nothing else. He was sure Ianto had been wearing clothes last night when he'd fallen asleep.

'I make pancakes...' Ianto replied, defending his actions. '...sometimes. I had some time on my hands.'

'That wasn't what I was referring to,' Jack said, looking him up and down, no longer getting the most out of the view now that Ianto had turned to face him.

'Oh, you mean this?' he said, pointing at his outfit.

'Unless you've got anymore surprises for me,' Jack answered, unable to wipe the grin off his face.

'I do, actually,' Ianto replied, flipping the pancake out of the pan and onto a plate to join the rest of the pile, before spilling more mixture into it with a sizzle. 'We have no clean clothes left. Whilst you've been sleeping in, I've been up for the last three hours doing laundry.'

It was only now that he said it, Jack heard the distant rumble of both their washing machine and their tumble dryer at the other end of the house.

'None?' he asked.

'Not one, unless of course you count our Halloween costumes and the Santa suit. I know we've been busy these past few weeks, but I didn't know our backlog of laundry was quite so bad. I'd already dumped my pajamas into the washing machine before going to have a shower. When I came back to fetch out clean clothes, there were none.'

'Thus the apron?'

'Thus the apron. Plus, there's parts of me that don't like being that close to the stove unprotected.'

'That I can appreciate,' Jack said. Cooking in the nude was nice, but it did leave you open to certain perils.

'It's okay, though,' Ianto said, flipping the pancake over. 'The first load from the tumble dryer is almost done. It's only track pants and t-shirts, but it's better than nothing. Plus it's the weekend, so hopefully that means we don't have to be anywhere that requires something more respectable. By the time we've finished breakfast, they should be ready to go.'

'Oh, I don't know, Ianto,' Jack said, coming over to steal the top pancake from the pile. He rolled it up one-handed, whilst reaching around with the other to cup Ianto's uncovered backside. 'I'm not sure we'll be needing any clothes this weekend.'