m_findlow

Title: Reward for a hard day's work
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Myfanwy
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,030 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for tanaqui's prompt "Any, any, he/she always wanted a pet" at fic_promptly
Summary: Ianto doesn't need much reward, but what he gets, he loves.

There were very few people who could say they enjoyed traipsing out after a long day at work to play fetch with their pet. For most it was a drain just to have to walk them somewhere, let alone to have to stop and play as well. And the later it got, the less enthused you could be about the task, wanting simply to eat dinner and crawl into bed until the alarm clock woke you for another day.

Not Ianto, though. This really was the best part of his day, and something he looked forward to as much as was possible with their often hectic and ad hoc schedules. And his pet was hardly ordinary either. In fact, you really did have to wait until it was properly dark unless you wanted to have to retcon half a neighborhood of locals who were all convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that they seen a flying dinosaur sailing overhead.

Whilst it was nice to sometimes head down to the coast, or some secluded part of the Welsh Valleys for a bit of play time, it simply wasn't practical most of the time, given their lack of free time. You took what you could get and didn't complain.

And tonight Ianto was hardly complaining. It was one of those spring evenings that was finally beginning to promise hints of warmer weather to come. Myf was enjoying it too, the warmer currents off the bay bringing with them the updrafts she loved so much, letting her sail with ease on their winds.

It hadn't taken the pair of them long to discover that with the right incentive, Myf could be made to play fetch just like any other pet. The only difference was how far you actually had to throw the toys. It turned out that a crossbow, slightly modified by Suzie years ago, provided just the right amount of leverage, rather like the world's biggest slingshot. It may have looked silly, launching a giant fish shaped toy hundreds of metres into the sky, but it was a lot more fun. And unlike a dog, Myf was glad to drop it back once she'd caught it. There was no disgusting drool-covered tennis ball that needed to be coaxed or wrestled from her mouth. She knew what she'd get if she played nice, substituting her fake fish for a real one, and maybe some chocolate too.

It was a game that worked both ways. After long hours trapped underground, all Ianto wanted was some fresh air and to confirm that everything above ground was still exactly where he'd left it when he'd come into work much earlier that morning. The last thing anyone wanted was to discover the rift had stolen the Millennium Centre whilst they'd been tucked up inside. Playing games was much more fun that filing and reports, or getting covered in alien slime and helping Owen drag half-mangled bodies into the hub for examination.

He hadn't had a pet since he was a kid, their poor little fox terrier having been run and played just about to death by Rhiannon, and then forced to go through it all again once Ianto was old enough, even if the poor creature was now too old to keep up. London had been too cramped for pets in the pokey flat he'd shared with his mates, and not much more spacious once they'd moved out and Lisa had moved in. Since returning to Cardiff he hadn't had time for pets since alien husbandry had become part of his job description, but he supposed this was a happy middle ground.

He released the crossbow once again, listening as Myfanwy squealed into the night air, chasing after her toy. Rarely did she ever miss these days, unless a freak gust of wind put either her or her quarry off course. Even so, she was hardly perturbed by it. He wondered how nice it must be to just be up there flying free, without a care in the world. Perhaps that was why Jack stood out on his rooftops, looking for that same exhilarating feeling of being free, high above all the cares of the world. If reincarnation existed, coming back as a bird would be right up there on his list. For now, sitting in the roof of the Millennium Centre would be as close as he could get.

Myf landed just a few feet from him, and tottered over, dropping the big plastic fishing next to him. She squawked, knowing what came next.

'Sorry, girl, but you've eaten them all,' he replied, knowing the bucket was empty, having cleaned his hands with a wet wipe after she'd made her last departure, ridding them of the slightly salty, fishy smell. She nudged his hand, checking he wasn't bluffing.

'Nope, nothing left.'

She nestled her beak into the side of his jacket and then nudged his face and squawked again, this time more fervently, before nudging his face again and beginning to tickle his side with her insistent beak.

'Okay, okay,' he said, laughing and patting her scaly neck, 'you got me.' He reached into his pocket and pulled out the tiny scrap of foil, containing the chocolate she'd sniffed out. 'I was saving this last piece. I should've known I couldn't sneak it off you. You're worse than Jack when it comes to all things sweet.' He slowly unwrapped it and held it out in his hand before she snaffled it up, perching down next to him to enjoy it.

'I don't know what you used to do before we found you,' he said, idly stroking her wing. 'There's no chocolate back in the cetaecious period.' She made a sound that was akin to purring as she swallowed the now melted chocolate. Dinosaurs must have good taste buds, he thought.

He let them sit there for a little while longer before finally grabbing both bucket and crossbow, dumping Myf's toy in the bucket and standing up. 'Time for bed, girl. And still one more resident for me who'll be needing one last sugar and caffeine fix. Then he'll want to play as well.'