Torchwood: Fanfic: Seeing red

[m_findlow]

Title: Seeing red
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Torchwood team
Author: m_findlow
Rating: M (language)
Length: 1,214 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for m_findlow's prompt "Any, any, seeing red" at fic_promptly
Summary: Jack should learn never to underestimate broken alien tech.

'So, what is it?' Owen asked, peering down at the metal box, about the same size as a shoebox.

'It's a transformer,' Jack replied.

'Brilliant,' Tosh exclaimed. 'I can't wait to take it back to the hub and start testing it out. What kind of energy sources can it work with, do you know?'

Jack laughed at her. 'Sorry to disappoint, Tosh. It's not that kind of transformer.'

She frowned back at him. 'What other kind is there?'

Jack considered his two teammates. 'It's a device that can be used to change the appearance of physical attributes. Nothing extreme of course,' he added. 'Just little things, like hair or skin colour, the shape of your nose. That sort of thing. We used to have them back at the Time Agency for when agents were required to go into deep cover.'

'Does that explain your current appearance?' Owen asked, teasing him. 'A bit of cosmetic adjustment? Or maybe a lot? Imagine that, Tosh. He might have been really ugly before we met him.'

'Hey, I never used it,' Jack protested. 'This look is au naturale. Perfection doesn't need perfecting.' Owen scoffed at that.

'It looks broken though,' Jack said, peering more closely at it, seeing a large dint in one side and a crack running along the side of the casing. 'Not much good to anyone now, I'd say. Not in its current state, anyway.' He tapped it with his heavy boot and there was a spark. 'Ow!' he cried, feeling the charge run all the way up his leg, leaving it tingling like pins and needles. 'Stupid thing. Tosh, pack it up and let's go home.'

'Uh, Jack?' she said, looking oddly at him.

'What?'

Owen barked out a laugh. 'It's broken alright. It's given you one last hurrah, though.'

'What are you talking about?' Jack asked.

'Jack, it's your eyes,' Tosh began. 'They're bright red.'

'What?'

She pulled out her phone and turned the camera on, flipping it to selfie mode and showing him. Even with fair warning, the colour startled him. It was a bright scarlet. Traffic light red.

'Yeah, you'll really blend in with a look like that,' Owen said.

Jack sighed. 'Alright. Well, let's take it back and see if we can't get it working again.'

When they returned to the hub and revealed what had happened, Gwen cupped her hands over her mouth to try and stop the fit of giggles from escaping.  'I'm sorry,' she apologised. 'It's just, well, that's pretty funny.'

Ianto just frowned. 'Red isn't your colour.' He should know.

'Tosh, get working on that thing,' Jack ordered, having had his fill of derogatory comments. 'And I don't have to tell you to be careful. I quite like your face just as it is.'

'I'm on it,' she promised. If she was honest, the red eyes were creeping her out.

Jack was busy checking in with his team the next day whilst Tosh continued to work on the problem of the transformer. Owen was hunched over the corpse of something that had come in two days ago, and been in cold store ever since, when the voice behind him distracted him.

'Any update? 'Jack asked.

Owen turned and then started, backing clumsily into the table, knocking his instruments all over the ground. 'Jesus! Fuck me!' he cried. 'Don't do that!' he said, clutching his chest and regaining his breath.

'I only asked how it's going.'

'You scared the shit out of me. It's like children of the fucking corn with you.'

'It's just red eyes, Owen. It's not the end of the world.'

'Fine. Then go and scare some small children somewhere, and let me get on with it.'

Dismissed, he decided to go and see what Ianto was up to instead. The reception he received was less that warm.

'I could get you some coloured contact lenses,' Ianto offered. 'Or perhaps just a pair of sunglasses?'

Jack pulled a face. 'They're not that bad, are they?' Admittedly Ianto had been avoiding him somewhat. He liked to think it was simply that Ianto was busy, but he'd been even more elusive than usual, and had waited until Jack had gone to bed last night, before sneaking in once it was dark. At least his eyes weren't glowing, else Ianto might not have come to bed at all.

'They are quite disconcerting,' Ianto replied. It was the most polite way he could say that they completely freaked him out.

Jack rested his hands on his hips and looked at him, unnerving as that might have been for the young man. He was trying hard not to look hurt, but Jack supposed his usual expressive blue eyes weren't going to work in this situation. 'Whatever happened to "I'll love you no matter what you look like"?'

Ianto gripped his clipboard tightly. 'Turns out I'm more conceited than I thought,' he replied, making his exit.

Jack returned to his office. From a drawer in his desk he pulled out a small compact mirror, setting it on the desk and taking a good long look at himself. He cringed. It wasn't vanity that made him sit there and stare. The longer he looked, the more he could see that not only did the look not suit him, it was really quite disturbing. No wonder everyone was a bit freaked out. He looked like the terminator, only a whole lot less cool.

There was a knock at the door. He looked up to see Tosh standing there. At least she didn't cringe when she looked at him, bless her.

'Jack? I think maybe I've fixed that transformer.'

He stood up immediately. 'Oh, thank the gods, Tosh. You're a gem.'

She set the object on his desk, whilst he confirmed that what she'd done to try and fix the setting might finally fix his eyes, before activating it.

'Did it work?' he asked. The last thing he needed was a giant nose to go with his current look.

'Much better,' Tosh said, smiling. 'Perfect just the way you are.'

Even though he couldn't see the difference for himself, somehow he felt different. More like himself. He couldn't wait to go and share the good news.

Jack caught up with Ianto stood over the coffee machine, sorting out one last round of coffee for the afternoon. At first he tried to avoid looking at Jack, so Jack instead grabbed him around the waist and turned Ianto to face him. He leant in and kissed Ianto before pulling back so that he could get a proper look at Jack. He never could resist staring at him once Jack had made his toes curl with one of his extra special kisses.

'Your eyes are back to normal,' he said. He sounded mildly surprised.

Jack shrugged. 'I decided that red wasn't for me,' he said.

Ianto added his own arms around Jack's waist and pulled him close. 'I'm very glad,' he replied. God how he'd missed those stunning blue eyes. 'You're much more suited to blue.'

'Yep, when it comes to red, that's definitely your domain,' Jack added.

'So long as it's only my shirt and tie,' Ianto clarified. 'I think I like my eyes just the way they are.'

Jack smirked. 'On that we're agreed.'