Torchwood: Fanfic: Mr Invisible

[m_findlow]

Title: Mr Invisible
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,181 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for m_findlow's prompt "Any, any, forced to stand there naked whilst everybody watches" at fic_promptly
Summary: The team are taking full advantage of yet another of Ianto's dates gone awry.

Ianto tried to tell himself this wasn't nearly as humiliating as he was making it out to be. After all, he was invisible, so why did it feel like everybody suddenly had some kind of magic x-ray vision?

He sighed, standing in front of the mirror. He knew his reflection was there somewhere, even if he couldn't see it. It was weird. He sort of knew where he was, but he couldn't even see himself. He was relying on muscle memory alone to tell him where the end of his arm was, and how best not to accidentally poke himself in the eye. This must be what it's like to be blind, he thought, thought that seemed easier than trying to see something that wasn't there but should be. Admittedly, closing his eyes did help him navigate his body, it just wouldn't be much use when he started trying to navigate everything else.

He heaved out a sigh. Just one day, he despaired. That's all he'd wanted. One day to spend with Jack on a proper date with no interruptions, and most definitely nothing Torchwood.

'Should've known,' he grumbled. Aliens running amok at the zoo? Of course they were. What other conceivable possibility could there be? They could pick any day to do it, but they'd waited until the morning he'd gotten up and said "You know what? Why don't we go to the zoo? That could be fun. A nice day out just being two normal people doing nice normal things." And now here he was, caught out by some alien technology that had rendered him entirely see-through, and which definitely wasn't fun or normal, not even by his own warped standards of what constituted normal. And that was nothing compared to the horrific injuries Jack has sustained, now wheelchair bound whilst his legs repaired themselves. They'd have been better off staying in bed, which had actually been Jack's suggestion of how they should spend their day off. Now instead, he was Ianto Jones, invisible man.

He'd always though the team sometimes considered him to be invisible - just making things happen in the background without their even noticing he was responsible - but this was ridiculous. He didn't want to be invisible, and he definitely was not enjoying being invisible and naked, even if being visible and naked sounded worse.

He looked himself up and down in the mirror again. Admittedly, it was somehow slightly less weird now without his suit on than it had been earlier up in the boardroom. He could tell it was kind of freaking everybody out, having this disembodied suit sitting there with them, talking as if is to were thee, where it looked to all the world like he wasn't. He knew they were trying to make an effort to be sympathetic and understanding, but the undertones of awkwardness were ironically there for all to see.

His hand still smarted from where it had been slapped, denying him any of the sandwiches that had been on the table. It hardly seemed fair that after going to all the effort to make them, he wasn't even allowed to have one. He was still feeling rather impressed that he'd managed the feat. Who knew it was that hard to butter bread when all you could see was the knife floating in mid air over the bread. On another day, he might have been able to have some fun with this being invisible business, carrying around trays of coffee that looked like they were floating around of their own accord. He knew the novelty would wear off quickly though, and none more so than being told he couldn't eat because nobody wanted to see masticated food being slowly digested inside an invisible man. To be fair, if it had been one of the others, he didn't think he'd be so keen on seeing it either, even if most of it was hidden underneath clothes.

His stomach growled in protest to the thoughts. 'Hush you,' he commanded it. He didn't need anymore reminding than he was hungry and that food was unlikely to be on the agenda for a while yet. He had a job to do now and one of the essential criteria was that he be completely invisible. He couldn't have so much as a glass of water lest it give him away.

Much as he'd loathed the idea of being useless in his invisible state, it seemed worse now that the team had decided he was the perfect candidate to infiltrate the organisation they believed were behind these crazy collector cards that came to life with all manner of deadly and dangerous aliens. In order to complete his mission, he'd have to ditch his beloved suit and be prepared to take on the task, as Jack had so crudely put it, "commando".

He wished he'd at least had some invisible underwear. He wouldn't feel quite so naked then, and let's face it, who wanted to go on any Torchwood assignment with their gear hanging out in the open? Wasn't the job dangerous enough without risking losing that? He was pretty sure Jack valued it almost as much as he did, but it seemed there was nothing for it.

'Ianto! Are you coming or what?' Jack's voice yelled down the manhole and into the bunker. How the hell did he even rationalize that Ianto was still down here? How could he tell? He could be anywhere if he was quiet enough. He could have been standing right next to Jack.

'Ianto, quit sulking and get your sexy arse up here.' A pity that Jack knew him too well.

Ianto grumbled something indiscernable. 'You can't even see my sexy arse,' he muttered to himself. Neither could he, for that matter.

'Ianto!' That was the third and final hurry up he was getting. There was really no turning back now. He had it do this, if only because whoever was behind the cards and the crazy aliens might also have a thing or two to do with how he'd ended up invisible in the first place, and therefore might have the technology that would allow him to be changed back to his former, very visible self.

He climbed up the ladder and stood there, wondering if his face was as red now that he was see-through, as it would have been if he'd been here in the flesh. Being naked in front of Jack was one thing, but knowing that rest of the team were here as well only made it more embarrassing. He used his hands to cover himself, pointless as it might have been.

'You took your time,' Jack said, managing to meet his eyes in a way that was altogether spooky.

'It's kind of freaking me out how you're doing that,' Ianto said. 'You can't even see me.'

'I have a very good imagination,' Jack said, returning his question with a cheeky grin.

'I don't even want to know,' Ianto replied. He only hoped the rest of their imaginations were a little less graphic than Jack's.

Comments

[bk_forever]

Poor Ianto, that was a difficult time for him. bad enough to be invisible, but not being allowed to eat or drink, and having to go on a mission naked and barefoot, would have been horrible.