Anythingdrabble Challenge 65 - Playing dirty

[m_findlow]

Title: Playing dirty
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Owen, Ianto, Jack
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Challenge 65 - Fold at anythingdrabble
Summary: Card games are about to get dirty.

Jack peered up over the clutch of cards in his hands. 'Owen?'

'I fold,' Owen said, slamming the cards down on the desk and slumping back in the chair.

'You can't fold,' Ianto replied. 'I only just dealt out the cards. The game hasn't even started yet.'

Jack grinned at him in the darkness. 'And if you fold you have to remove some of your clothes.'

Owen sputtered. 'What?'

'We're playing strip poker,' Owen, Jack replied. 'That's kind of the main point of the game.'

'Well, nobody warned me about that. You said poker. You didn't say anything about it being strip poker.'

'You wanted to play Go Fish. I reserved my right as leader to overrule you.'

'I didn't want to play anything,' Owen retorted. 'It was Teaboy who insisted on doing something while we wait for the power to come back on.'

'And I overruled Jack's suggestions in that respect,' Ianto added, glad Owen couldn't see him blushing at what Jack had suggested they do, though which fortunately didn't involve Owen at least.

Owen huffed. 'Well, if that's the case, then I unfold,' he said, reaching over to grab up the cards he'd spilled across Jack's desk.

Ianto frowned at him. 'You can't unfold.'

'Hang on. Two seconds ago you told me I couldn't fold. Now you're telling me I can't unfold? What kind of circus is this?'

'The kind where I try to enforce the rules and Jack does everything in his power to break them.'

'I'm not taking off my clothes! Not even a sock. Not with you two.'

Jack barked out a laugh. 'We're on emergency backup lighting, Owen. Who's going to want to see your scrawny body when you're down to your boxers?'

Owen scrabbled to collect his cards back off the desk. 'We'll see about that. I can outplay any of you. It's you who'll be sitting there in only your socks and jocks.'

Jack grinned at him. 'Bring it on. I've played poker with the best of them in the Vegas Galaxy.'

'You haven't played me, though,' Owen warned him. 'In fact, wait here a moment while I go get a beer. Might as well drink them while they're still cold. Teaboy, you want one?' He didn't even wait for an answer, already fumbling his way across the hub towards the kitchen.

Ianto rolled his eyes. 'I don't know how you do it sometimes, Jack.'

'Do what?'

'That whole reverse psychology thing where you've somehow conned Owen back into playing a game of strip poker. One he didn't want to play in the first place.'

Even in the dark, Jack's eyes glittered and his smile picked up every scrap of light as he gave Ianto his most cheeky grin. 'It's a skill.'

'Should I be worried about you employing similar tactics on me?'

Jack leaned forward, his lips so close to Ianto's ear that he could also take a sneak peek at the cards he was holding. 'Who says I'm not already?'

Comments

[jo02]

" I reserved my right as leader to overrule you. "

You know this is Jack's only rule when it comes to running Torchwood, don't you?

" What kind of circus is this? "

Dear Owen, see rule #1.

Also - Jack's last comment - just a little bit scary.

[bk_forever]

That's typical of Jack, he'll cheat any way he can and smile while he's doing it!

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

Cheating comes naturally in his line of work, and being able to do it subtly takes real skill. Of course when it comes to Owen, you really only need a blunt instrument. To get past Ianto takes a lot more ingenuity.