Torchwood: Fanfic: Wallowing together

[m_findlow]

Title: Wallowing together
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 745 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for m_findlow's prompt "Any, any, searching for someone who doesn't want to be found" at fic_promptly
Summary: Jack has his moods, but Ianto always knows where to find him.

Jack was in one of his moods. Ianto wasn't sure what had triggered it. He'd come to know Jack was far more complicated on the inside that he ever let on. Behind that sparkling smile and all that charm was a man burdened by so many things Ianto was amazed it didn't just crush the life right out of him. Somehow though, despite all of the things he'd seen and done, Jack just kept going. He didn't have a choice. Life was going to keep going on for him whether he wanted it to or not. There was no way out for him; no inevitable end when he could finally breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that he'd done and experienced everything he'd wanted and that he was ready for death to take him.

On a day like today, when there was nothing in particular happening, Ianto wondered what had set off Jack's usually sunny disposition. What memory haunted him so much that he could no longer hold that mask in place? Perhaps Ianto didn't want to know. Once you knew something, you couldn't un-know it. Well, there was always retcon, but he didn't think he could do it.

Jack's sombre mood had grown throughout the afternoon, though no one other than Ianto seemed to notice it. Jack was getting better at hiding it but Ianto was getting better at noticing it too. He'd announced he was heading out to check in with a few contacts and no one blinked an eye. When he didn't return a few hours later, Ianto knew for sure he'd gone to brood. He had the whole hub he could go and hide away in, but he always took his troubles away with him. Ianto grabbed his coat and headed out.

He tried all of Jack's usual haunts, his favourite rooftops across the city: the Millennium Centre, Skypoint, St David's Hotel, the Bridge Street Exchange, Stadium House. He wasn't at any of them. Ianto ran a trace for his phone and came up empty. The same went for his vortex manipulator. Jack had gone dark. He didn't want to be found. Even a facial recognition scan across the city's thousands of CCTV cameras came up empty. Jack was unnaturally skilled in avoiding being caught on camera. It vexed Ianto no end, but he wouldn't give up. He tried a dozen other places: the Norwegian Church, the pebbled shores around Tiger Bay, even the Tretarri Estate where Jack was known to prowl for reasons as yet determined. He was simply nowhere to be found.

Ianto leaned back against the railing by the bay, the chill wind eating through his collar. Where did you find a man who didn't want to be found? Suddenly the answer became obvious. You looked somewhere that didn't exist.

The bar was a hidden secret in the city's inner streets, tucked away in an obscure alleyway. Jack had mentioned it only in passing, stating that it was the one place in the city you could go where they didn't ask questions. What he meant was that it was the local watering hole for aliens who couldn't pass themselves off as human.

When he'd knocked on the grubby door of the establishment, a small slit slid open and a huge yellow eye rolled around, inspecting him. Ianto didn't have the password; he didn't need one. Torchwood was the one word that opened all doors in the city.

Jack was hunched over the bar, still wearing his greatcoat which was dappled with the evening's earlier drizzle, not yet evaporated from the thick wool. In his hand was a tall clear glass. Water wasn't going to fix whatever was troubling him. Sometimes you just had to get drunk.

Ianto silently signaled to the barman who produced two glasses of scotch. Ianto sat down at the bar and slid one under Jack's nose, finally breaking him out of his reverie, seeing Ianto right there next to him. He kept a calm expression on his face, as if he'd known Jack had been here all along, rather than the hours he'd spent scouring the city. Jack may not want to have been found but neither would he turn away a friend. Without words, Jack picked up the glass and drained it. Ianto threw back his own and let them be topped up again. It was going to be a long night. He just prayed that the world didn't decide to end tomorrow.