Torchwood: Fanfic: Off limits

[m_findlow]

Title: Off limits
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: G
Length: 1,092 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for m_findlow's prompt "Any, any, taken" at fic_promptly
Summary: Ianto is struggling with laundry day.

It had been a busy morning for Ianto, but finally it felt like he was getting back on track with his list of things to do. The next item was to sort out laundry and dry cleaning. He already had his own hanging neatly on a hook near his desk. All that was left was to retrieve Jack's coat and he could be off.

As he walked across the hub and entered Jack's office, he sighed at the fact that Jack had once again just dumped his coat on the floor. It was only on closer examination that he could see that the coat wasn't on its own. It had a friend in the shape of a large black labrador, who had chosen to curl up on top of it for a nap. Typical, he thought. A whole hub to sleep in and Buddy wanted to sleep on their laundry.

'Off,' Ianto ordered, but Buddy stayed right where he was.

'Buddy. Off. I don't have time for games today.' The dog gave him a last disinterested look and then settled his face back down amongst the folds of grey wool. Ianto wasn't alone in enjoying the scent that Jack left behind, imbued in that soft material. It was comforting and warm, and almost as good as having the man himself right here.

'Come on,' Ianto said. 'I've got to take that to the cleaners today. Otherwise we won't get it back until after the bank holiday on Monday, and who knows what could happen between now and then. Jack will need that coat.'

He'd meant to grab it first thing this morning, but Jack had dived out on some random errand, taking his faithful coat with him, and then dumped it back in his office once he was done. It turned out that Ianto just wasn't quick enough to claim it before their mischievous mutt had decided it looked like a fine place to make his bed for the day. By rights he shouldn't have even been at the hub, but there were tradesmen at their house fixing a rather large hole in their roof - the result of storm damage from the week before - so there was no way they could leave Buddy there. He'd either try to get under their feet, potentially knocking over ladders, or he'd go berserk barking at them which would upset their neighbours. Given their propensity to come and go at odd hours, sometimes bringing their work home with them, they really didn't need any to create any more reasons for their neighbours to have issue with them.

'Off the coat, now,' Ianto said, to which Buddy gave one sharp bark that clearly meant no.

Ianto sighed. 'I'll give you a treat if you get up.' That didn't garner any response.

He went across to Jack's bottom drawer and pulled out the packet he knew was stowed away in there. He wagged them temptingly at their pampered pooch but he took absolutely no notice at all. Usually he'd have been jumping up to take the whole bag right out of their hands.

'What about a walk? Walk time, Buddy. Let's go.' The W word was sure to get a response. He was clever enough to know even when they spelled it out letter by letter exactly what he and Jack were talking about, usually darting between their legs and just itching to head out the door at the word. He wasn't actually going to make good on his promise, he just needed their four-legged fiend to get up long enough to snatch the coat away. Today though, their magic word was having absolutely no impact. Walk versus sleep tucked up in Jack's coat was clearly no argument. Sleep won every time.

'Can't you sleep somewhere else? There's a nice sofa out there no one is using,' Ianto implored. If anything Buddy just gave him a little snoring grunt, as if sleep was exactly the thing he was now rudely interrupting.

This was ridiculous, Ianto thought. How hard could it be to grab a coat and take it to the cleaners? Now it had its own guard dog.

'Okay, give me the coat right now.'

Ianto reached down to tug it right out from under the dog, hoping to tip him off it with a bit of gentle persuasion. No sooner had he grabbed one end and began pulling at it, then Buddy whipped his head around and growled a low menacing growl. Ianto immediately froze. He never growled at them. Well, not since they'd adopted him, anyway. Those first few days when Jack had found him and they'd mysteriously done a bizarre body swap, the dog then inhabiting Jack's body had not liked Ianto one bit, despite his best efforts to try and look after both of them in the period of confusion. Since then though, he'd mellowed, been to puppy school and learnt that if he shared Jack, he got rewarded a lot more. Ianto was not beneath spoiling him, even when he didn't deserve it.

This was like a completely different dog, though. Ianto gave another tentative tug, slow and subtle, but all he got was the flash of white teeth in that black mouth and another growl that suggested he'd come to bodily harm if he even so much as tried to take the coat away.

'What's got into you? It's not even yours!' Ianto cried. Two dark brown, almost black, eyes dared him to challenge for it again. There was a low growl in the back of his throat that continued to threaten Ianto. He suspected if he went to reach for it again, he may lose a few fingers in the process.

Ianto let out a little vexed breath. 'Fine. You can keep it for now and have your little nap, but I'm coming back after lunch. You'd better have finished with it by then, or I'm bringing backup to disposess you. You won't like it if I bring my pterodactyl in here to sort you out. At least she doesn't bite the hand that feeds her.'

Whether Buddy took any notice of him at all was hard to say. He was already snuggled back in, looking like he was preparing to hibernate for some indeterminate period of time.

Stupid dog, Ianto thought, feeling defeated. Why did everyone in his life had to be so bloody stubborn? One of these days he was going to be the one who dug his heels in and refused to give an inch.

Comments

[bk_forever]

Jack's going to wind up smelling of dog everywhere to goes if Ianto doesn't get his coat cleaned. Maybe that'll teach him not to drop it on the floor.

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

I have a sneaking suspicion that some naughty dog may have dragged it to the ground, but yes, we can't have the captain smelling like dog.