Fandomweekly Challenge 23 - Pet peeves

[m_findlow]

Title: Pet peeves
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 23 - Inner child at fandomweekly
Summary: Ianto's early morning ventures have earned him a new best friend.

Bute Park was quite lovely when it was this quiet, Ianto decided. A pity it was also 5.30am and he preferred being in bed.

Ianto looked down at the dog on the end of the leash and glared. 'You are not my responsibility.' The black labrador just whipped its tail from left to right and back again, staring up at him expectantly.

He didn't know how Jack thought he could look after a dog. Most days, Jack could barely look after himself. If he didn't have Ianto around to make sure he had clean clothes, proper meals, stuck to important engagements with senior government and department heads, and remembered to occasionally stop for essential things like sleep, Ianto had no idea what kind of state he'd be in.

'We just have to adopt him,' Jack had insisted. 'Think of everything he's been through.'

True that for three weeks he'd been trapped in Jack's body, and Jack trapped in his, but it was hardly what Ianto would describe as a traumatic experience. Jack's human self had regressed into a childlike state, easily amused by watching cars go by on their CCTV cameras of the Plass overhead, and only stopping to roll over on the floor, begging to have his tummy scratched. Jack had a relatively easy time of it as well. With a brain the size of a peanut to contain his consciousness, Ianto couldn't much tell the difference between Jack as a dog and a dog in general. So long as he was fed and patted regularly, he seemed to hold no anxiety about his current state.

Now that all of that drama was over, Ianto was hoping that was the end of the matter, especially since Jack's counterpart had not exactly taken a shining to him at having to share Jack. Ianto considered the feeling to be mutual, miffed that a dog had taken his place in the pecking order for Jack's affections.

The moment Ianto had suggested taking it to a shelter to be adopted by a proper family Jack gasped.

'Do you know what happens to the ones that don't get adopted? Do you?' Jack made a gesture with his finger across his throat, presumably for the benefit of their dog lest it have suddenly grasped human language.

The argument ended then and there, if only to keep Jack happy. It wasn't that Ianto disliked dogs. He'd had one as a kid, also a rescued dog, though it had been more his sister's dog. By the time he was old enough to want to run around, it was already old and far more inclined to sleep by the radiator than run after sticks.

Ianto unclipped the leash and held his breath, expecting the dog to go bounding off, never to be seen again. That would be one way to get rid of it, he thought. All well and good for Jack to claim it couldn't stay at the hub, but suggesting it could take up permanent residence at Ianto's place was pushing the friendship. Ianto mentally kicked himself for being such a doormat. 'Had to go to work early, my arse,' he muttered, annoyed at Jack's disappearance any time there was mention of dogwalking.

'Off you go,' Ianto said, shooing it away with his hand. 'Go exhaust yourself so you won't destroy my backyard.' It had already dug up his begonias and half the lawn whilst he'd been at work. There wasn't much left it hadn't ruined.

The dog just sat there and looked up at him. 'Go on.' Eventually it trundled off, circling and sniffing around the base of each tree once before returning with something in its mouth.

'How on earth did you manage to find that?' Ianto asked, spotting the mangled tennis ball in its mouth. The dog dropped it to the ground, covered in drool and Ianto knew what came next, much as it disgusted him.

He picked it up and lobbed it, watching the dog bolt after it as he cringed at the sticky coating on his hand. The labrador returned quickly, droping the ball at Ianto's feet and barking. Ianto threw it further this time, but the dog came back in no time, finding it easily. He tossed it again and again, until his shoulder ached from the repetitious action, even if the dog never tired, zipping back and forth across the park.

'No more. Some of us have to go to work,' Ianto said. He reached down to try and remove the ball from the dog's mouth, but it wouldn't let go. He leant forward, trying to wrest it back, but this new game of tug of war persisted between them, neither prepared to let go. Somehow the dog knew once Ianto had the ball that the game would be over and that was unacceptable.

Finally Ianto won, easing off before pulling hard, but not before the momentum of his victory got the better of him, landing him flat on his back and all the air knocked out of him. As he struggled to get his breath back, the grey sky in his vision overhead turned jet black. The dog rewarded him by assaulting his face with hot breath and sloppy licks until Ianto's flailing protests finally melded into uncontrollable fits of laughter.

'Stop it! Tickles!' he panted, trying to push the furry face away. 'You're worse than Jack! Stop!'

He finally managed to sit up, grabbing the dog by its head and ruffling its soft floppy ears, trying to hold it back from more wet French kisses. 'Enough. If we play some more will you stop?'

The dog barked in acquiescence. So much for them being mortal enemies.

'If I'm late to work we're both going to lie and say you ran off on me, okay?' No one but a handful of early morning joggers would know they'd spent it running around chasing after a ball, and it was a whole lot more fun than filing and making coffee.