m_findlow

Title: From up on high
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 534 words
Content notes: Written for Challenge 3 - Rush at beattheblackdog
Summary: Jack is overcome in a most unusual way

Ianto watched as the pair of them staggered in through the cog wheel door. Gwen slumped down in her chair next to him, whilst Jack trudged all the way to his office without so much as a smile or a word.

'Fun night out?' he asked Gwen.

'Five hours stuck in the car and all I have to show for it are the pins and needles in my foot, which was the only part of me lucky to get any sleep whatsoever.'

She grabbed her car keys from the desk, almost missing them on the first attempt, and shrugged her jacket back on.

'I think maybe I should drive you home,' Ianto offered, seeing the state she was in. He'd been getting a bit sleepy himself, just sitting there waiting for them to return.

'I would love you forever,' she replied gratefully.

'Just don't let Jack hear you say that,' he joked.

He wandered over to Jack's office and popped his head in through the door. Jack was sat at his desk, leaned over it with his head buried in his arms. He looked exhausted and a bit shaky. Not at all his usual bubbly self.

'Just dropping Gwen off home. Should be back in about twenty.'

'Uh huh,' muffled Jack.

Ianto frowned as he rejoined Gwen. 'What's with him?' he asked her.

'Long night,' she answered.

'Not like him to get worn out so easily. You did say nothing happened, didn't you?'

'It's not weariness that's got him down. More like the food coma.'

'I'm still not sure I follow,' he responded as he unlocked the car door and hopped into the drivers seat. Gwen joined him inside moments later.

'Well, you know how he gets bored.'

'I do,' Ianto agreed. 'All too well.'

It had been one of the reasons he'd let Gwen go in the first place. The last thing they needed on a stakeout was for Jack to get fidgety and decide that making out with his boyfriend in the car was more fun. It was more fun, but not at all the right time for it.

'So,' Gwen continued explaining, 'the only way to keep him occupied was to keep him supplied with food from the milk bar around the corner.'

'What's the damage?' he asked, referring to the quantity and cost. He had a sneaking suspicion he knew the answer already.

'Four packets of chips, three cream cakes, two bags of snakes, three cans of soda, a chocolate milk, and three boxes of jaffas.'

Ianto felt sick just thinking about it. No doubt the evidence of his boredom binge was still tucked in every crevice and compartment of the SUV, waiting for some good samaritan to come along and pick it all up in the morning.

'So he's not tired,' he's just coming down from the world's biggest sugar rush,' Ianto surmised.

'Something like that,' Gwen agreed.

'Good to know. I won't be offering him a coffee when I get back in that case. The three heaped teaspoons of sugar he takes will only delay the inevitable. Better that he only has one crash down from a sugar high of that magnitude, assuming it doesn't kill him first.'