torchwoodteaboy | [RL WITH AKIHIKO AND JACK]

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[RL WITH AKIHIKO AND JACK]

Ianto had had enough of the Hub for one night. Being cooped down in the archives working on a filing system that never seemed to go anywhere fast for the past few days had left him feeling a bit antsy, and he'd really just needed to get out and breathe fresh air for a while. Which was why when as soon as he finished the section he had been working on for the majority of that day, he had interrupted Akihiko's own work to ask him out for a coffee. Jack was nowhere to be found, but Ianto left him a note, and he felt that was as good a notice as he could give him. The Captain was probably down in one of the many training rooms or something, which meant that he'd rather not be disturbed anyway.

Which was the reason Ianto stood at the counter at a cafe a few blocks off the Plass, having left Akihiko to keep watch of their table. All that had been left was one of those little round ones with two arm chairs on either side that cafes seemed to be sporting more and more often for the people who would rather do their work at the cafe than go home and do it. Ianto had to admit that the chairs did look comfortable, but he couldn't help but feel a bit of a fool at the idea of sitting in one of the tattered old armchairs in a suit that obviously cost at least twice what the chair originally had.

"Jones, Ianto?" the woman at the counter called out, pulling him out of his train of thought, and he quickly stepped up and accepted the paper cups from her with a murmur of thanks. He headed back to Akihiko, placing the younger man's drink on the table in front of him and folding himself into his chair. "Can't guarantee it'll be the best you've had, but it's probably the best that we can buy around here so late in the evening," he said to Akihiko, cradling his own cup in his hands to warm them. "Sorry I sprung this on you so suddenly, I just needed..." He trailed off, shrugging and looking around. Truthfully, he needed something simple and normal, after a day of wading through the files of a particularly dark era of Torchwood history.

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Akihiko grinned up at Ianto, taking his own cup and wrapping his gloved hands around it as he inhaled the scent of coffee. He was coming to like the drink a lot, though he knew it wouldn't be anything close to as good as Ianto's brew.

"I don't mind," he said earnestly. "It's nice to get a break sometimes, and the Rift has been pretty quiet lately. I'm sure if anything happens, we'll get a call."

He cocked his head. "Is everything okay, Ianto?"

"I'm fine," Ianto defaulted. Then he sighed and shook his head. "No, sorry. That's an outright lie. I've just been left to myself in the archives for a bit too long. Too much time to think."

Actually, something had been weighing on his mind for a while before then. And he desperately wanted to just let it out and share it with the boy in front of hum, but he wasn't sure the reaction would be well received. So he changed the subject.

"What about you? I haven't really seen you in a couple of days. Really haven't seen much of Jack lately either, now that I think of it." He continued to cradle his coffee in his hands. He was going to have to remember his gloves the next time he went back to his apartment.

Akihiko blushed and ducked his head. "Ah... well, I was sort of...at home," he stammered. "Another virus. I left Jack a voicemail, to let him know I wasn't really up to coming in."

Ianto raised an eyebrow. "Well, that would explain why I didn't run into you the few times I got to venture out. Doesn't explain why Jack wouldn't see fit to tell me about it, though." He frowned.

"Well, what kind of a virus was it?" Ianto asked. "I noticed, er, Shinji's call for help on the community when I had a moment of respite. Would this have anything to do with that?" Ianto couldn't help but notice the blush across Akihiko's features, but he genuinely was curious, and also wondering why Jack hadn't told him before. Or why he hadn't seen a lot of Jack around the Hub lately either.

Akihiko squirmed a little. "Yeah, I went and got Shinji. He was in a pretty bad place."

His smile faltered as he remembered the drug-user-infested flophouse where he'd found Shinji...squatting. It just hurt his heart to know he couldn't protect his friend from that yet.

"I don't know what to call the virus that hit me, though," he said. "I just...well, I wanted to cuddle stuff."

Ianto nodded. "Yeah, I saw the video post..." he said. Actually, he wondered about what kind of a situation Akihiko's friend Shinjiro was actually in, although he knew that it really wasn't his place to be asking about it. Anyone could tell though, from how Shinjiro's clothes looked like they'd seen better days, as well as the fact that Shinjiro himself seemed really almost too quick to gruffly brush people off that the younger man's living conditions were definitely less than ideal. Especially from what he'd seen in the video.

"...I'd imagine that he wasn't very happy about the whole being changed into a woman bit," Ianto said, cautiously taking a sip of his coffee and finding that it was still a bit too hot for him to drink still. "I mean, not that men generally are happy to do so, but, he seemed to be even less pleased than usual."

"Yeah, well it's not really fun at first," Akihiko said wryly, remembering his own bad few hours of hiding in his dorm room trying to find something in his closet that would fit. One nice thing about Ianto was that he could sort of relate to the girl thing, so he wasn't as embarrassed to talk about it as he might have been. "But I guess he was okay once he got out of that place."

He reddened again. "I was a little distracted, honestly."

Ianto was a very perceptive man, so of course he didn't miss the blush spreading across Akihiko's face. "I suppose now's as good a time as any to take a page out of Jack's book and ask if the two of you at least took the opportunity to enjoy yourselves and the effects of both viruses?"

Ianto flushed himself, a bit surprised that he'd asked at all, but there was no taking it back. "I mean... Setting aside everything else, when I was, well..." He trailed off, flushed, and shrugged. "It was rather...nice."

Akihiko was startled for a moment that Ianto had actually asked, but he grinned a little secretively and nodded. "Well...yeah, of course," he said.

He squirmed and took a hasty sip of his coffee, nodding. "I was really really sensitive, actually. I guess the virus made all of my skin really hyper-sensitive? I don't think we could have, uh, held back even if we'd wanted to."

This was such a weird conversation.

"Ah," Ianto said, "I see." He blushed and took another drink of his coffee as well. He honestly couldn't believe that they were having this conversation really. "I take it that things are all back to normal now? I mean, you're back into work, so."

"Jack and I have managed to escape the most recent viruses, as it were, but... I wouldn't really mind if either of us had been hit by that one, really." Ianto's blush wasn't going anywhere.

Akihiko couldn't believe they were having this conversation, either, but it was sort of nice to have it without Jack, too. He wondered where Jack was today, actually.

"Yeah, it wasn't the worst one I've ever been through," Akihiko admitted wryly. "And yeah, it's over now. It was sortof weird, and I couldn't stand to wear anything rough, like jeans, or my evoker belt. But other than that, it was okay."

"I never would've thought that clothes would factor into it, but I guess it makes sense," Ianto said, cocking his head. His mind wandered onto Jack's greatcoat, heavy and coarse as it was made of wool. Jack loved that coat, and Ianto did too. He tried to imagine Jack without the greatcoat and braces out and about in the world, and he just couldn't. He imagined that his silk ties would probably have felt amazing, though.

Ianto frowned. Speaking of Jack. "Have you seen much of Jack this past week, Akihiko? What with the new system I've been working on, I haven't seen much of anybody lately, but. I mean, I've probably seen you more, and you were even out for a day."

Akihiko was happy enough to leave the subject of the viruses behind, and he shook his head, frowning. "I haven't seen him, either. I mean, I was away for a few days, but I didn't see him today, either. It's not just you. I wonder what he's up to."

It wasn't totally unusual not to know what Jack was up to at any given moment, but now that he thought about it, it was unusual to see him this infrequently.

Ianto wasn't sure whether it was comforting or not to know that Jack had been hard to find for both of them. At least that way he wasn't overtly avoiding Ianto specifically.

"I'm worried about him," Ianto said, quietly. "Ever since John resurfaced, he's been really absent. Even when I've managed to corner him..." Ianto reflected on the couple of times that he'd seen Jack since then. He'd seemed distracted, only focusing on the essentials of the conversation before they were both off on their own tasks once again. Ianto absentmindedly noted that they hadn't had sex in at least as long.

Ianto swirled his coffee around in his cup, staring down at it, kind of ashamed that he had brought it up at all really. "I mean, the last time John showed up, Tosh and Owen died, and Jack was..." he trailed off. "Not that that's what's going to happen now, but. I mean, even I haven't seen him much, and he..." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, never mind. It's probably nothing," he said, putting himself down.

"Huh what? Who?" Akihiko asked, staring at Ianto in confusion. He'd managed to completely miss any of John Hart's posts to the community, what with work and training and Shinji. And Jack had certainly not mentioned anyone to him.

"Who's John? What do you mean, resurfaced?"

Ianto startled and quickly racked his brain to remember if either he or Jack had ever explained the whole John Hart fiasco to Akihiko. He vaguely remembered explaining Gray to someone, but was it the younger man in front of him?

"Captain John Hart," Ianto explained. "Back when Jack was in the Time Agency, he was partnered with Hart, and Hart seemed to harbor some, er, feelings for Jack. And apparently they parted on less than spectacular terms, because Hart came looking for him about two years ago. When Jack turned him down again, he went to find Gray to get into Jack's good books. But, it kind of backfired, Gray being insane, and Tosh and Owen ended up dying in the process. Hart wasn't entirely to blame and we weren't...we were otherwise occupied, so he kind of slipped away to explore the 21st century."

"But he's back," Ianto continued. "He resurfaced, on the community of all places, about a week or so ago. And..." He trailed off, not used to such long explanations. "I mean, he has feelings for Jack, but he's thrown him off buildings, shot him to death, buried--..." He cut himself off abruptly. Even two years after the fact, Ianto had a hard time dealing with what exactly it meant to be buried alive at all, let alone for that long...

"Let's just say that I'm not exactly pleased about him turning up again," he concluded.

Akihiko's eyes were wide and horrified. Okay, so this guy sounded complicated but okay at first, but he'd thrown Jack off of a building and shot him? And buried him in something? Akihiko couldn't understand how someone who cared for Jack could do things like that.

It sounded like he was a creep. And besides, Jack was with Ianto.

"Well I'll have to keep my eye out for him, then," he said, an edge of protective anger in his voice. "We have to keep him away from Jack. He sounds like a stalker or something."

Something warm flared in Ianto's stomach at the sound of Akihiko's voice. He was glad that he had a partner in looking out for Jack, because god knew that Jack was never going to start looking out for himself--there was always someone higher on his list of priorities when it really mattered.

"He is a stalker," Ianto confirmed. "He tracked Jack through time and space just to get together. And he's still hanging around even now, like he's hoping that Jack will come to his senses and realize all the good times they had and come back to him." Ianto fought very hard to keep the aggressive and slightly jealous tone out of his voice, and it almost worked. He knew better than to be jealous of past lovers of Jack's, but there was something about Hart that made his hackles rise.

"The point I'm making is that Jack's been on this disappearing act since Hart showed up, but he hasn't said a word about it to me. And he isn't in his usual hiding places--I've checked all of those." Ianto frowned. "John would boast about it if he'd for some reason gone to him, he's not exactly the subtle type, so..." Ianto glanced up at Akihiko. "So, I'm worried, and it's as stupid and simple as that."

Akihiko's eyes widened at Ianto's words. "Jack's been disappearing ever since John Hart showed up?" he asked, feeling a definite sinking sensation. "Are you sure it happened like that? Do you think..." his voice dropped and he looked worriedly at Ianto. "He's not...going to see him, is he?"

Ianto shook his head. "I really don't know. I don't think so? He...he didn't exactly seem happy to run into him again, at least, so that's something against that theory. But even if he isn't going to see him, there's something going on. I don't like that he's pulling away from us, but that's Jack for you." Always keeping people at arm's length, though it really didn't seem to do that person or Jack himself a load of good, in the end.

"Part of me is glad that he's probably not going off with Hart. But that part of me is also pretty sure that whatever's going on means that Jack's not in the best of places either. And another part of me hates myself for being happy that he's not okay, so long as he's not going off to John." Ianto took a long drink from his coffee, shaking his head. "And another part of me thinks that I've had too much time by myself in the archives recently to dream these things up, really."

Akihiko set his coffee down and reached out, putting a hand on Ianto's arm and giving it a squeeze. "Look, you aren't happy that Jack isn't okay. You're happy that he's not with John Hart, there's a huge difference, and it makes sense that you'd feel that way. There's nothing wrong with that."

He leaned back in his chair again. "I say we find him and find out what's going on before he does anything really stupid, though. He needs to learn that he can't pull away from us - we won't let him!"

Ianto felt rather silly that he'd admitted feeling that way in the first place, but he was comforted by Akihiko's hand on his arm and his words. He supposed that Akihiko was right, in that there was nothing wrong with him having a dislike of John Hart that went beyond the fact that he was responsible for the breakup of what was effectively Ianto's family for a year and a half. "Thanks," Ianto said, giving Akihiko a small smile, feeling a little better now that he'd got at least that much out.

"You...you wouldn't mind helping me out on this?" Ianto asked, a bit sheepishly. "Jack doesn't like to be cornered about these things, but. He really should have said something earlier, if there really is something the matter, yeah? He's probably not going to happy about us calling him out on his behavior, though."

Akihiko would have been shocked if Ianto didn't loathe this John guy with every fibre of his being, if he had wound up causing the deaths of two Torchwood members and he was trying to steal his boyfriend.

"Of course I don't mind helping!" he exclaimed, a little bit angrily. "What the hell, Ianto, aren't we friends? I'll so whatever it takes to make sure Jack is okay, and that you don't lose him! If Jack doesn't like it, then that's just too bad."

Ianto kind of really did hate Hart with everything he had. He just didn't get it, that Jack was not the same person that he'd known all that time ago, and therefore even if they had parted on decent terms, Jack would not be completely willing to drop everything and go with him. Or even go with him if he were blackmailed into it. Plus, the whole 'Eye Candy' thing pissed him off more than he'd give Hart the satisfaction of knowing.

"Yeah, sorry," Ianto said, tensing a little at the question, even if it was rhetorical. He ran a hand over his face, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly; he still wasn't used to having friends, really, and it kind of threw him for a loop that he needn't apologize for burdening someone. He hadn't really ever been the most social of people, but then Canary Wharf had happened and all his friends made there were dead, then there was Lisa, and really the only people he'd had any contact since then with were his neighbors, his family, and Torchwood. "I guess...I'm just used to having to do everything on my own, up until recently."

"Yeah well, you won't have to do everything alone so long as you have me as a friend," Akihiko said decisively. There was no question in his mind that they were friends, after everything they'd already gone through together.

It was pretty tough for Akihiko to care about someone without going all the way, too.

He grabbed his cup of coffee and jumped to his feet, dropping his gloved hand onto Ianto's shoulder. "In fact, I say we go find Jack right now and set him straight. What do you say?"

((ffff, I'm not going to be around today, but I just wanted to let you know that Akihiko was invited to the Policeman's Ball, and he would have begged Ianto to come help him rent a nice suit for himself and Shinji. XD;;;;;))

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