Ficlet_zone Challenge 20 - New and improved

[m_findlow]

Title: New and improved
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 734 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 20 - Once Upon A Time Reverse Fandom (The New Neverland) at ficlet_zone
Summary: Kids school, holiday activities have really progressed since Ianto's childhood.

'What are you doing?' Jack asked, watching his husband sitting cross legged on their sofa with his laptop resting on his knees, quietly studying the screen.

'Just checking out our options for school holiday programs for the kids,' he replied, unconsciously shuffling over on the sofa so that there was room for Jack to settle next to him. 'Another school term over. Feels like it's every other week these days.'

Jack chuckled. 'That's immortality for you. Everything feels like it flies.'

Ianto snorted at Jack's explanation. He didn't want time to fly. The end of yet another term just meant that the kids were continuing to get old under his very nose. Soon they'd be moving out and not interested in anything their dads said, or wanting to spend time with them. It wasn't meant to be going this fast.

'Does your research include a holiday for us?' Jack asked hopefully.

'You know we can't. We had one only a few months that ago. Besides, I think the kids are looking forward to having a week away from us, to be honest.'

'Never,' Jack said. 'Ten's still too young.'

Ianto shrugged. 'Apparently not. What do you think of this?' he asked, turning the laptop sideways so Jack could see the screen. 'It's a nature and orienteering camp. They have national park rangers that spend the week camping with them in the Brecon Beacons, teaching them how to read maps and all about the native fauna and flora.'

Jack yawned theatrically. 'Sounds boring. Orienteering?'

'There's other stuff. They learn archery too. And some basic survival skills.'

Jack snorted. 'Yeah, cause they're definitely going to need to know how to use a bow and arrow later in life, or make their own campfire.'

Ianto huffed. 'Well, what would you suggest, then?'

'What about space camp?'

Ianto frowned at his husband. 'Space camp? What's that?'

'What it says on the tin. A camp that is held out in space. They'll learn all kinds of stuff - how to distinguish a spaceport from a way station, calculating positions using star maps…'

'That sounds a lot like orienteering, which you said was boring.'

'Trees and maps and boring, Ianto. This is space! And they'll get their first go at flying a spaceship.'

'Kids flying a spaceship? Is that even safe?' He was dreading the day they wanted to learn how to drive a car.

'No more dangerous than letting them drive dodgem cars. It's all done in training modules. Totally harmless.'

Ianto chewed his lip as he considered it. 'So, they'd be how far away?'

Jack paused to think about it. 'Closest one is probably a few thousand light years from here, out on gamma Sixteen. They'll pick them up and drop them off.'

'But... What if something happened to them? Gamma Sixteen? What if we needed to get them?'

'Ianto, we've only got three dozen perfectly serviceable ships parked up on the moon. It's a few hours at warp speed to get there. You'll spend more time stuck in traffic on the A485 trying to get to the Brecon Beacons than it would take to get to Gamma Sixteen.'

'And why have we never been to space camp?'

Jack gave him a look like he'd said something totally ridiculous. 'Uh, because it's space camp? It's for kids.'

'Oh. Are you sure?'

'It'll be great, I promise. They need to get exposed to what's out there eventually.'

'Thought they got enough of that right here in Cardiff,' Ianto sulked.

'It'll be different. And they'll make loads of new friends of all different species.'

'Cause they don't do that now - the neighbours, their teacher, the butcher at the arcade in Queen street…'

'Kids their own age,' Jack clarified. 'It's about time some kids on this planet learned the value of seeing other species as being just like us.'

Ianto toyed with the idea. It did sound a little bit more exciting than hiking through the Beacons. 'I suppose it's just like being at a theme park, yeah?'

'Way better. When you hear how much fun they had, you'll be wishing your parents had sent you to space camp.'

Ianto sighed. 'Actually, there's days when I relish those first twenty years of my life when I was blissfully oblivious to all of this.'

Jack grinned and squeezed him close. 'You're just saying that. You only wish you'd met me twenty years earlier.'