JMDC Challenge 173 - By the fire

[m_findlow]

Title: By the fire
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,791 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for enchanted_jae's JMDC Challenge 173 - hearty, hide, hope, hot, husk
Summary: Ianto is determined to covert Jack to a lover of camping.

Jack eased himself back into the low camp chair in front of the fire and sighed contendedly. Peace and quiet and nothing but the great outdoors and his lovely boyfriend for three whole days. There wasn't much that could compete with that.

It wasn't his first choice of locations. There was the deluxe king suite at the St David's Hotel, or Paris, or even the Amalfi Coast, but Ianto had been talking about them going camping for almost as long as Jack could remember. He'd avoided it every time it came up in conversation. He'd slept rough plenty on times and places and it didn't quite appeal as a way to holiday, but Ianto had eventually worn him down. Camping was fun, Ianto told him. A chance to put aside all the complications in one's life and just get back to basics. Jack didn't think Ianto knew how to survive without a plush duvet and central heating and a hot shower, but he was going to be proven wrong.

So far it hadn't been as bad as Jack expected. The hike through the Brecon Beacons was leisurely, and a far cry from their usual high alert wanderings in this area on the hunt for whatever had come through the rift. It gave Jack the chance to just enjoy the fresh air and the scenery, which just so happened to include the well-toned butt of his lover as he blazed the trail for them. Birds chirped, the leaves of the trees rustled in the crisp breeze and the miles disappeared under Jack's feet without him noticing them much at all.

Ianto eventually pulled them up, declaring this was a good spot for them to make camp. There was a creek nearby and Jack could hear its faint trickling. The water was probably cleaner than what came out of their taps at home. The area was well sheltered by trees in the event the wind picked up and there was a nice space big enough to pitch their tent and make a fire.

Jack set about gathering kindling and rocks for the fire whilst Ianto began unpacking and pitching their tent. It was creeping towards twilight by the time they'd readied everything and finally sat down to rest their feet and backs. This was the moment when Jack realised that they were hidden away from the world, just them and their crackling fire and a little piece of cloth to keep out the elements. Perhaps this was the real reason Ianto liked camping.

Jack closed his eyes and breathed in the smoky scent of their campfire. 'This is the life,' he murmured.

'Didn't take you long to covert,' Ianto replied, still moving around the damp fussing over something.

'Sit down and relax, Ianto,' Jack told him. 'We're meant to be on holiday, remember?'

'We've still got food to organise. Unless of course you want to go to bed on an empty stomach.'

Jack's stomach growled loudly at the mention of food. A muesli bar or two had been all Ianto had offered him on their hike and now that he had it in his head, he couldn't get the thought of food to go away. 'So put the kettle over the fire and were done,' Jack said. 'I've already found us some good marshmallow roasting sticks.'

Ianto continued to unload things from his pack which seemed to resemble a Mary Poppins style carpet bag for all he'd managed to fit in there. Jack had the tent in his pack but Ianto seemed to have everything else. He must have been exhausted carrying all that for miles. 'Just because we're camping does not mean three days of nothing but toasted marshmallows and two minute pot noodles. That's for backpackers and students.'

'Hey, pot noodles are not my thing,' Jack insisted. 'I would have at least gone the instant mac and cheese option.' His stomach growled again at the prospect of mac and cheese.

'And I rest my case.'

Ianto finally came to sit next to Jack in his own low chair. He wedged an ear of corn between his knees and began stripping off the husks, pulling away the stringy insides. 'Camping is not slumming it,' he continued lecturing.

Jack raised an eyebrow at his lover, so doggedly attentive to the task in front of him. 'So, we're glamping?'

Ianto pulled a face, casting an eye at their tent and its sleeping bags loosely tossed over a very thin piece of foam. 'Not even close. But at least we can have a decent dinner. How does grilled lamb and corn on the cob sound to you?' He pulled the husks back over the corn and dropped them in their cooking pot, filling it with water and setting it on the ground rather than over their campfire.

'I thought you were grilling them?'

'They need to soak first. Unless of course you like flaming corn husks.'

Jack chose that moment to shut up and let Ianto do whatever it was he had planned. He knew better than to tell Ianto how to cook. The man didn't even let him have store bought pizza bases, preferring to make the dough from scratch.

'If you want to to help, you can put the meat on the skewers,' Ianto said, handing him a tupperware container from their cooler bag. Jack opened it and the scent of slightly fruity species hit his nose. Inside the meat had already been cut into large cubes and was sitting in a marinade of some kind. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, yet another of Ianto's secret recipes. Spicy marinated beef was definitely not slumming it.

Jack might have hoped for an isolationist vacation to some uninhabited part of the world so that he could spend time just enjoying Ianto's company but he should have known that their sojourn would not be entirely foraging for food and long hours of lying in their tent doing nothing. Ianto was the very definition of the boy scout motto "be prepared". Jack took the metal skewers he'd been offered and began sliding the meat onto them, resisting the temptation to lick his fingers in between to try and figure out Ianto's secret recipe. Once done, he balanced them over the fire, letting them slowly cook.

Ianto grabbed a flask from his pack and poured them drinks while they waited. Jack was surprised by the sneaky pear cider in his tin mug, but it was sweet and warming as they sat by the fire without saying much, just enjoying the peace of nature. Ianto got up just the once to remove his corn from the pot and skewering it, adding it over the fire to cook.

Jack reached across and took Ianto's hand as he sat back down, sipping his drink. 'I'm glad we did this,' he said.

'Hopefully you still agree in the morning after a night sleeping on the ground.'

'I've slept worse places. That first campaign in France in 1914 was the worst. Most nights you couldn't sleep at all, what between the shelling, the mud, the cold and the constant fear you were just seconds from being blown to bits.'

Ianto's hand squeezed tighter around his. 'Why did you do it? Nobody asked you to fight for us.'

'It was the right thing to do. Not like I had anywhere else to be. One soldier who can't die has to be better than a hundred who can die, right?'

'I'm not so sure about that. I worry about how you can stay sane and hold onto hope with everything you've been through.'

Jack gave him a reassuring smile. 'I'm okay. It's having people like you around that makes the difference. It gives me strength to keep going. Speaking of things to keep my strength going,' he said, trying to divert their conversation away from doom and gloom, 'that lamb must be almost ready by now.' He could smell it and it was mouth-watering. He'd have eaten it half raw given a chance.

'I think you're right,' Ianto replied. He stood up and went back to their tent and supplies. Another small container was retrieved from their cooler bag. This one Jack saw contained salty butter, which Ianto scraped out with a flat knife, spreading it over the now bare corn cobs. As it melted and dripped into the campfire, it sparked and smoked.

'Mmm... salty buttery corn,' Jack said, salivating.

'But better with a little bit more spice,' Ianto replied, sprinkling cayenne pepper over them.

'You are a hot food fiend, Ianto Jones,' Jack observed. Any excuse for a dash of chili or a dusting of paprika. Just the aroma of Ianto's vindaloo was enough to set Jack's eyes watering.

Ianto grinned at Jack's assessment. 'I like my food to have flavour. And I haven't heard you complain about it.' He knew full well that Jack liked things spicy as well, just perhaps not to the same extreme.

The lamb skewers came off the fire, just long enough for the metal ends to cool down so they could hold them. The corn followed shortly after, and Ianto added more butter on top before handing one to Jack on a plate. He wasted no time biting into it.

'Wow,' Jack murmured, as hot corn juices dribbled down his chin. He took a few more bites before turning to his skewer of smokey barbecued meat. Biting into it, it was just as juicy and tender as it looked, bursting with accents of plum and citrus and warm spices. It was a real hearty campfire meal, and a lot better than instant noodles. He just hoped that toasted marshmallows weren't off the list, but merely soon to follow as dessert. He knew he'd packed some and Ianto was unlikely to have unpacked them. It would have been in an icy camping trip indeed if they'd come all this way with no marshmallows.

'All this time and you still act surprised by my ability to feed you,' Ianto quipped, delicately biting into his own corn cob, napkin already tucked into his collar to collect the inevitable juice.

'Camping is officially my new favourite way to spend time together.'

Ianto grinned. 'You say that now. Just wait until that one time we go camping and it rains the whole way through, when our tent begins to drip water inside, our socks are damp and we can't get a fire going long enough to stay warm. I'll never get you inside a sleeping bag ever again.'

Jack licked his butter and spice covered fingers in a way that was unequivocally naughty. 'Oh, I don't know about that. All depends what else is inside the sleeping bag first.'

Comments

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

Good lord, that made me hungry, too. Yum!

Ha ha!

Thanks for the entry!

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

You won the drawing, m'dear! Please go to the wrap-up on my LJ and leave a prompt, or PM me.

\o/