Torchwood: Fanfic: Final call

[m_findlow]

Title: Final call
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 974 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for samuraiter's prompt "Any, any, one finger hovering over the "Bid Now" button, only seconds to go before the auction closes" at fic_promptly
Summary: It's not quite retail therapy.

Ianto tapped the desk with a fingernail, watching the little clock on the screen. Still ten minutes to go. There was definitely something wrong with the timer. It was broken or something. It felt like it had been saying ten minutes to go forever.

Most people would have gotten a kick out of shopping online, but for him it was just yet another part of the job. It was impossible to track down every little thing that had ever come through the rift, or dropped out of space or been dumped here intentionally. Just because the rift accounted for ninety percent of stuff, that didn't mean aliens didn't occasionally come here of their own accord, either on purpose or by accident, leaving stuff behind, or perhaps treating the planet like a public waste receptacle. That meant plenty of stuff ended up in hands it shouldn't. Some of them were harmless, others went out looking for it, and sometimes it just dropped in your lap.

People were strange sometimes. The sorts of things they brought into their homes and just treated as theirs boggled the mind. For some it was an odd collection, and for some they probably thought it was just rubbish, stowing it away in their garden sheds - which was fine just so long as the thing they'd collected never did anything more than sit there and gather dust.

For some though, trawling for weird stuff was a hobby, and if they could make money out of selling junk to someone else, then so much the better.

That was part of the job, looking out for those odd items that defied explanation, and more than few ended up on auction websites for sale, in which case, the only option was to open your wallet and buy the damn thing. Jack preferred the idea that they just track down the person who was putting it up for auction and simply take it, but honestly, there were only the five of them and who had the time to traipse all over Britain, kicking down doors of teenagers to try and take back alien artifacts? Sitting here in the relative comfort of the hub with his coffee was far more preferable.

Ianto watched as the clock slowly ran down. Another bid came through and he growled. He bid again. Then another bid came through. One pound extra. It annoyed him, this stupid bidding war. He added another five to his bid and clicked again. One more pound was added.

It was that sodding Henry Parker, he was sure of it. The man was a pain in his online shopping backside. Very few people actually knew what the hell it was they were bidding for, but somehow Parker knew. He knew and that was why he wanted it. He knew full well just like Ianto, that this was very much an extraterrestrial item and not just some trite little knick knack from someone's garage sale.

More infuriating was the fact that the man was a stingy old bugger. He wouldn't pay a penny more for anything than he absolutely had to. It only made Ianto's job all that much harder. Jack gave him a budget and didn't like Ianto going over it.

'It's junk mostly, but it's our junk,' he'd say. 'I don't see why we should have to pay top dollar for it.'

Well, perhaps because it would make life a whole lot easier for him, Ianto thought. If he could just bid a hundred pounds extra, then that would get rid of any other interest in the thing and he could get on with his day. Instead he was stuck here, making sure that he didn't let things slip away from them. It was annoying people like Parker that made this a less than pleasant experience. Frustrated, he added another ten pounds, hoping to put an end to things. A minute later, another one pound came in. Bloody hell. If Jack wanted this thing so badly, why wasn't he here doing this?

Five more pounds. Another one pound. Then ten more. Another one. Each and every bid was upped by just a single pound.

Three minutes until the bidding closed and Ianto was at the end of his patience. He sat there in his chair watching the clock tick down, last bid remaining at two hundred and thirty one pounds, which included Parker's last one pound. He sat and sat, letting time tick down. He was already over his self appointed limit and he still had another five objects he'd spotted that he'd yet to put a bid on.

More time slipped by as he sat there, watching it stay stuck on the magic number. Let Parker think he'd given up and walked away from it. He typed two hundred and thirty five into the bid box and let it sit there. Watching the clock shift from minutes to seconds, he held his hand over the mouse, its little pointer hovering on top of the "bid now" button. If Parker was going to play hard ball then so was he.

Ten seconds, and still there was no movement. Time to go in for the kill, Jones. He waited until it ticked down to three seconds, hitting the button. His bid registered with one second left. Then the auction closed.

'Ha! Take that old man,' he said. He knew Parker would be too feeble to get in one last bid as quick as Ianto. He had the reflexes of a man in his twenties. That old codger didn't stand a chance.

'Who's taking what?' Jack asked, hearing Ianto's little exclamation of victory.

'Just another successful purchase on eBay.'

Jack looked over his shoulder, spotting the Dogon sixth eye. 'You paid how much?'

Ianto resisted the urge to sigh. There was just no winning some days.

Comments

[bk_forever]

I seldom place a bid until the final few seconds. Saves a lot of money that way, even if I don't always win. Getting into a bidding war is a bad idea.

I hop[e Ianto gets the other items more cheaply.

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

You just never know when Parker is going to show up online. Hopefully this has dampened his enthusiasm to get into another bidding war.