m_findlow

Title: A lesson in modern mechanics
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Jack, Ianto
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Challenge 94 - Hover at anythingdrabble
Summary: Ianto is feeling a little overwhelmed by Jack's expectations.

Jack gritted his teeth and held back a sigh as he felt the shadow over him, blocking what little light he had. 'Could you maybe not hover like that?' he suggested.

Ianto sighed loudly. 'I though you said you wanted me to learn how to fix things?'

Jack did sigh this time, matching Ianto's for sheer frustration. 'I did, didn't I? I just didn't think I'd mind being watched quite so much,' he said, setting down the tool in his hand.

'If it's more complicated than you expected I can go away,' Ianto offered.

'No, it's fine.' Jack waved away his suggestion. 'I just didn't think it would drive me so crazy having someone sitting there over my shoulder. I'm not used to having an audience.'

Ianto gave a small chuckle. 'Now you know how I always feel when you hover over me, nagging me to stop whatever it is I'm doing so I can do something for you.'

'I'm not that demanding, am I?'

Ianto shook his head. 'It's hard to deny you when you want to spend time together, even if I do have a mountain of work to do. Seriously though, I can leave you to it if you want. Teach me how to fix a spaceship when it's less complicated. Or maybe when it's less actually broken.'

Jack wiped his hands on a well oiled rag. 'It's not that complicated, honestly. It's just like a really big car.'

'I can change a tyre and that's about it. Comparing it to a car doesn't really help.'

'Okay, well look, why don't you grab that torch and shine it in there for me. I'm struggling to find the gear that's busted in this light.'

'Busted gears.' Ianto made an amused little sound. 'So much for modern technology.'

'This is modern,' Jack protested. 'What were you expecting?'

'I though that future was all wormholes and proton drives.'

Jack laughed. 'What the hell is a proton drive?'

Ianto shrugged. 'I don't know. They always have them in sci-fi movies.'

Jack snorted. 'Yeah, and they also think that reversing the polarity fixes everything. You do know that you can't strip protons from an atom, and even if you could, they're not gonna power a spaceship across space and time. All you're gonna end up with is a bunch of useless protons.'

'Fine. The stupid twentieth century Earthling will shut up now.'

Jack laughed again. 'Oh, don't be like that Ianto. Just look at technology on Earth. The computing power in your mobile phone forty years ago used to take up the same space as a football pitch. All they did was figure out a way to make it smaller, set the circuits closer together to make it more efficient. A spaceship is just the same, only on a larger scale. The technology doesn't change all that much, just the way we put it together.'

Ianto shone the light in between the tangle of components and sighed. 'Should've started with a car.'