Torchwood: Fanfic: Not such a bad idea

[m_findlow]

Title: Not such a bad idea
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 649 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for mirrored_illusions's prompt "Any, any, Christmas traditions" at fic_promptly
Summary: Jack has a proposal for this year's Christmas dinner which is quickly gaining popularity.

'Why can't we have Christmas at our place this year?' Jack asked when Ianto came in and startled rattling off the list of things they needed to buy as presents. If they bought half of what was on Ianto's lists, they'd need one of Rhys's trucks to deliver it all. They'd be putting Santa out of a job, spoiling everyone like this.

Ianto frowned at him, like he'd said something completely mad. 'What's wrong with going to my sisters?'

'Nothing. I just thought maybe it was well past our turn to host.'

Ianto could just imagine the glee Jack would have at carrying the massive turkey out to the table, dressed in his apron and oven mits and then making a show of carving it, like they were trapped in some hideous Brady Bunch moment. Christmas at theirs was more likely to be National Lampoons. And that was assuming the rift behaved itself.

He thought about all the cleaning he'd have to do to make the place presentable. It wasn't bad, but there was a layer of dust that never got removed from certain rooms on account of a lack of time. Then there was the food shopping. It wouldn't just be cooking up a roast on the day, it'd be all the other baking in the days before hand - the Christmas cookies, the gingerbread house, the stuffing for the turkey, soaking fruit for the Christmas cake. If they were doing Christmas at theirs, it had to at least match Rhiannon's for the quantum of food. There'd only be little comments thrown in here and there if it wasn't, such as "it's a pity you didn't have time to decorate the gingerbread, the kids only eat it if it's covered in lollies and icing" or "the cake's a bit on the dry side. Are you sure you soaked the fruit long enough?" or "Mum always had pine nuts in the stuffing. You should've asked for the recipe if you were unsure." Jack of course would love it. He was a deft hand in the kitchen, much to everyone's surprise, and loved baking. For him it was fun rather than a painstaking labour to measure things out precisely as per the recipe. His ad-hoc measuring system rather annoyingly always managed to produce perfect results.

'The kids will be bored,' Ianto replied. 'We don't have an Xbox, and the closest park is ten blocks away. They'll be running around the house, tearing up the backyard and driving my sister nuts to the point where she'll pack them up and leave.'

'And that's a bad thing, why?' Jack asked, giving Ianto a mischievous grin.

Admittedly, every Christmas by the time his sister had foisted more food on him than his stomach could cope with, all he wanted was to curl up on the sofa with Jack and sleep it off until New Year's. Running around playing rugby with the kids at the park on a full stomach was a recipe for disaster, or throwing up at the very least. If everyone left their place early on account of keeping the kids from destroying the house, however...

'On the other hand,' Ianto said, 'maybe we are well overdue to host. After all, cooking Christmas dinner is a big job and Rhiannon has done it for the last five years without a word of complaint. We probably owe her one.'

'I can always add an Xbox to our shopping list,' Jack offered. 'One for the kids, of course, but that lives at our place for when they come over.'

Ianto placed a hand on his arm. 'No, no. That's okay. I'm sure they'll behave just fine.' He hoped to God they'd terrorise one another. That elusive post Christmas nap was within sight and Christmas at the Harkness-Joneses was looking more appealing by the minute. Perhaps it was time to start some new Christmas traditions.