Fffc Bingo Card - Lofty heights

[m_findlow]

Title: Lofty heights 
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: none 
Author notes: Written for Bingo Card Prompt 45 - High at fffc
Summary: Ianto is nervous about Jack's choice of places to hang out. 

A stiff breeze hit Ianto in the face as he slowly pushed open the fire escape door. He had no idea why anyone would build a fire escape that led all the way up onto a roof. If there was a fire, why make it any harder for emergency services to get to you? Shouldn't you head down and not up? Then again, he'd lived through an age where he'd seen planes crashing into high rise buildings. The architects had built this place long before anyone had thought such an insane thing would be done. 

Ever since seeing a documentary on how to better your chances of surviving a disaster, he'd steered clear of staying in any hotel higher than the sixth floor, even if it meant foregoing the spectacular view. Jack would have called it a waste, and the complete opposite of how someone should live their life -which was to say, to the fullest, leaving nothing undone, no regrets whatsoever. Then again, Jack could well afford to live life in the fast lane. If something went wrong, he'd survive it. Ianto felt that they put themselves in quite enough danger as it was without tempting fate. It'd be just his luck, he'd decided, that he should end up dying in some absurdly mundane manner, slipping in a puddle on the footpath and suffering a fatal blow to the head, choking on a chocolate digestive, or some such. 

Or perhaps he'd go tumbling off the edge of one of the tallest buildings in Cardiff, trying to get Jack to very sensibly come down from such lofty heights where he himself was very likely to end up falling from. 

The Altolusso was a nice hotel and a Cardiff landmark, famous for its quirky tripod shaped architecture. It had probably won some design award at the time it was constructed for its innovative shape. Whilst it had its three main arms branching off from the central section, it was the cube shaped feature that poked out right at the very top of the highest of the three branches that juxtaposed oddly with the otherwise curved, triangular shape. That, of course, was where Jack chose to take in the view, up there on that frighteningly narrow, unprotected ledge. Calling it a ledge was probably too generous. How he got up there Ianto never knew. The man must be part monkey. 

There was no protocol for getting a man like Jack off a perch like this. He was fearful of calling out, lest he break whatever delicate concentration was required to stand up there in the breeze without being knocked off. Knowing Jack, he probably didn't even give balance a second thought. He came up here to be alone with his thoughts, or whatever it was a man thought about when he had the whole city spread out beneath his feet. He might be debating the principles of existentialism, or just counting how many red cars drove along Cathedral Road each hour. 

In the end Ianto didn't have to figure out the answer. Somehow, Jack knew he was there. 

'Beautiful up here, isn't it?' 

Ianto risked stepping forward, closer to the square edge of the building. 'I never realised I had a problem with heights until I met you.'

'It's not the heights people have a problem with. It's the falling.' 

'And quite rightly so,' he replied. 'Might I convince you to come away from there before those fears are realised?' 

'Ianto, relax. I have a perfectly good four feet of very solid structure underneath me.' He bounced a little with his knees to show how sturdy it was. 

Four feet? At this height, Ianto wasn't sure he'd feel comfortable having forty feet. 'Why here?' 

'I like the view.' 

'You could get the same view from the Exchange Building.' At least it was square with proper railings made of seven inch concrete. 

'The Exchange Building is ugly.' 

'So will you be if you go toppling off of there and splat all over the ground.' He didn't even want to think about Jack going splat. It was just too horrific, and he didn't dare ask if it had ever happened before. Jack would only brush it off, make some comment about how disappointed he was with the noise he'd made, or that there hadn't been an audience, or some poor sod that tried to give him mouth to mouth when he was clearly dead, only to wake up and snog them back in the shock of their lives. 

'Could you please come down from there and just enjoy the view from down here where it's safe?' 

Jack was too far away to see it but Ianto knew he was having eyes rolled at him for his fussing. Jack spun on his heel, coat flapping in the breeze so much that for an alarming split second Ianto was convinced the coat was going to project him off the edge. He squeezed his eyes shut for that terrible moment, expecting a terror filled scream, and held them shut for several seconds more until he was certain Jack must have finally hit terra firma. 

Instead there were strong hands gripping his shoulders. 'You can open your eyes now,' Jack teased, standing there all smiles and sparkling eyes. Ianto might have punched him but for the relief of having him there unharmed. It didn't feel like an unreasonable request to have Jack not so flagrantly put his life in danger all the time. He could surely ponder existence in a much safer environment. 

'Finished all of your very deep thinking?' Ianto asked. 'Or was it just the mounting pile of reports on your desk and Owen's constant griping you were attempting to escape?' 

'I won't deny the latter isn't exactly appealing by comparison to being up here in the fresh air and wide open spaces.' 

'But you're ready to go back now, forgoing your breathtaking vista?' 

Jack shrugged. 'Nope. Just found something I like staring at even more.'