Fffc Bingo Card - No recollection

[m_findlow]

Title: No recollection 
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Owen 
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: none 
Author notes: Written for Bingo Card Prompt 57 - Flowers at fffc
Summary: Owen is filthy at the team for ragging on him about things he doesn't remember doing. 

Owen could literally feel the eyes on the back of his head as he was followed all the way from his desk, up the spiral staircase and into the hothouse. In fact, it wasn't just eyes that had followed him, but the entire person they belonged to. 

Owen grabbed a spray bottle and hastily began squeezing it over the plants, whether they really needed a watering or not. Anything to get away from the rest of them and the bloody awkward moment that some dickhead had created. 

Ianto leaned in the doorway, sleeves rolled rather unusually casually to his elbows. He quirked an eyebrow at Owen. ‘Got a sudden urge to commune with the plants, did you?’ 

‘Piss off,’ Owen grumbled. The last thing he needed was some smug Teaboy coming in here to rag on him. 

‘I suppose it makes sense,’ Ianto carried on. ‘After all, plants and flowers are all kind of the same thing at the end of the day. Were you hoping to cultivate some rare blooms to impress someone next? Or do you reserve flowers for only when you've stuffed something up?’ 

Owen slammed down the water bottle. His eyes blazed as he tried hard to get control over his emotions and not lash out. That would only make Ianto and everybody else even more sure that he was acting out of defense and embarrassment. ‘I didn't bloody send Tosh those flowers, alright?’

‘Oh, so it was another Owen? One who had something to apologise for? One who fancies Tosh's just a little bit? No, wait. A lot. It would have to be a lot. You did say "love and apologies" after all.’ Ianto's expression was so smug that Owen was tempted to wipe it from his face with a well placed fist. God, he was even worse than Jack. 

‘We lost two days of our memories, Ianto. Fuck knows what we were doing since Jack won't let us go back and try and restore all the deleted CCTV. For all we know he had us smoking magic mushrooms and engaging in a two day fuck fest!’ 

‘I don't think Jack would wipe his own memory if we had. And you'd be sore.’ 

‘Har, bloody har. Are you done now, or did you have any other smart arse comments you wanted to make?’ 

Ianto let a dramatic pause hang in the air before replying. ‘Nope. I think that was all for now. I'm off for a shower. It smells like I haven't had one for two days. If I think of anything else, I'll come find you.’ 

Owen sneered. ‘Don't rush on my account.’ Drown yourself and you'll make my day, he mentally added. 

Ianto gave him one last smirk and then disappeared from the doorway, leaving Owen alone.

He snatched up the water bottle again and made a fuss of spraying the plants until the bottle was completely empty. After that he grabbed a pair of scissors and went about fastidiously prudent pruning off leaves and dead-heading flowers. Anything to avoid going back out there to face the rest of the team. 

He'd brushed off the hopeful look in Tosh's eyes as she read the card on the enormous bouquet, but now that he'd made light of it, everyone wanted to needle him about it. It had to have been him who sent the flowers. There were no other Owen's in Tosh's life. Hell, there weren't even any other men in Tosh's life. 

The burning question was why? And why had he said he loved her on the card? That was just ridiculous. He didn't love Tosh. He didn't even fancy her. Not that she wasn't completely brilliant to the point where it was a little bit scary, and not that she wasn’t hard on the eye. She had decent enough legs and a reasonable rack. It was just that she was, well, Tosh. They didn't really have anything in common, apart from Torchwood. She was a homebody and he liked to go out and paint the town red. Or at least he used to. He'd done that more than enough times and he'd never been able to land a bird for more than five minutes. Not since Katie. She'd been everything to him, the perfect girl to enjoy a perfect married life, to have kids with someday and to grow old with. She hadn't been loud and outgoing, but he liked that about her. She had a quiet humor about her that she only shared with Owen. 

But Tosh... Nah, she wasn't like Katie. She was too shy for a start. Owen wanted someone with a bit of feist. Someone who could handle themselves. Okay, so maybe Tosh could handle herself. He certainly wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of her gun, that was for sure, but really? Just the thought of them trying to be together was laughable. Not to mention how much grief the others would give them, with all the teasing and taunting. And the fact that Jack would probably break both his kneecaps if he lay a hand on Tosh, or God forbid, hurt her. 

He shook his head. Whatever had happened in the last two days could stay forgotten. This whole thing with the flowers and the fluffy greeting card would blow over and be forgotten as well. He just had to stick it out and make sure Tosh didn't get any fanciful ideas in her head, or let any of the others encourage her into thinking they were something more than they were. There was no “them”, and there would never be a “them”. They were just workmates, maybe friends even, but they definitely weren't fuck buddies or anything more serious. Jack might get away with that kind of ridiculous thing, but Owen had standards. Someone had to. And the next person who came in here to wind him up about it was going to get more than a spray of water for their troubles.