m_findlow

Title: One for the road
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 500 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 515 - Road Trip at slashthedrabble
Summary: Jack has rather oversold his promise of a road trip.

Ianto sighed audibly as he stared blankly out of the passenger side window at the grey landscape zooming by. Every now and then the view was interspersed with a tiny burst of colour; bright reds and blues, sometimes even yellow, which might have been pretty until he reminded himself that the colourful blur was nothing more than a hatchback or a delivery van going the opposite way down the motorway.

'What's wrong, Ianto?' Jack asked. 'You've been gloomy and down in the dumps all day. I thought you'd be happy to get out of the hub and spend the day together with me.'

'And I would have been,' he replied. 'You said we were going on a road trip.'

'And we did. We went for a trip and we're on a road.'

Ianto let out another little vexed breath. Jack had a strange way of warping the truth and making it sound better than it was. When he'd said they were hitting the road, just the two of them, he'd imagined lush green countryside, blue skies and rolling down the windows to let the bracing Welsh air hit him full in the face. He pictured a surprise destination - a delightful little farm cottage, a scenic mountain view, or maybe a windswept beach - and a picnic basket full of goodies hidden in the boot of the SUV.

Instead he'd gotten a dull grey day, speeding down a dull grey motorway, into dull grey Newport, to pick up something that was equally dull and grey. The alien might have been dead, but no matter how carefully he'd made sure they wrapped it before sticking it in the boot, there was no mistaking the fact that it was beginning to smell and that it was travelling through the back seats, piling even more misery on an already miserable day.

'Your definition of road trip needs work,' Ianto muttered, refusing to look at Jack. Even spending the day together couldn't improve his mood. At least they'd be home soon, unless there was an accident up ahead causing traffic chaos. This stretch of road was famous for them.

In what must have been the only stroke of good fortune, the motorway remained clear of incidents, and they were soon pulling up to the back entrance where Owen was waiting to take custody of his latest autopsy subject.

'We'll see you tomorrow,' Jack said, leaving Owen to it and getting back in the car.

Jack drove them toward home, and then without warning turned off the main road and into the service station.

'Do we need petrol?' Ianto asked.

'Wait here,' Jack instructed. He returned ten minutes later with a huge bag full of food.

'What's this for? It looks like you bought half the store.'

'Well, people load up on junk food on road trips, don't they?'

'We're three minutes from home, Jack.'

'Better late than never, unless you want me to keep driving. Swansea is a long way to go just to eat crisps.'