Finding Your Place in Space

[jooles34]

Title Finding Your Place in Space
Word Count 5,338
Giftee tonjavmoore in torchwood_fest Christmas round.
Pairing Jack/Ianto. Tosh, Owen and Ten also featured.
Rating 15 max for language
Summary From prompt: Completely AU – Jack is a stuntman who’s been hired to do the doubling in a spy movie for a James Bond type character played by Ianto Jones, who would much rather do his own stunts. (No Gwen or Jack Hart requested)
Warnings None
Contains Some swearing
Beta Thanks to emyrldlady. Any remaining mistakes my own after more fiddling.
Disclaimer I do not own Torchwood or any of its characters. Nor do I own James Bond.
A/N This is the first time I’ve written TW AU, but the lure of stunts was too great to ignore! This is based on slightly old-school stunt work as it was far more fun back in the day.




Ianto strode onto set with Toshiko walking briskly at his side, talking to him while reading from her PDA.

“We’ve got a lunchtime finish today as we’re onto night shoots tomorrow. However, you have that magazine interview at 2 pm.”

“The ‘From Cardiff to California; Welsh boy heads west’ one?”

“That’s the one.”

“The irony that I’m currently playing the quintessential British spy and shooting in the UK hasn’t occurred to anyone?”

“It would appear not.”

“Well that will be interesting. And dinner with my sister and the kids tonight, right?”

“Why do you bother having me as your PA? There’s nothing you don’t know.”

Ianto laughed, but then suddenly stopped walking.

“I don’t know who he is. I know everyone on this set.”

The both turned to look at the tall, handsome man standing on the other side of the enclosed set. He was about Ianto’s height and of a similar build and currently seemed to be wearing full World War Two regalia, complete with greatcoat, despite the film being set in the present day. He certainly stood out.

“Ah, that will be Jack Harkness. He’s been brought in as your new stunt double, after the other guy came off his bike on the way home.”

“Ah, yes. How’s he doing by the way?”

“Broken leg was successfully pinned and you sent him a big bottle of Scotch.”

“Wasn’t that lovely of me? And that, my darling Toshiko, is why I have you around.” Ianto turned and kissed her on the forehead.

“And I assume I will now be finding out all I can about Mr Harkness?”

“What makes you think that?”

“The way you are still staring at him is a bit of a giveaway.”

Ianto startled and turned to look at her again, to find her grinning. He raised his eyebrow at her.

“PAs can be replaced you know.”

“Not when they know where the bodies are buried they can’t.”

Ianto smiled back at her.

“A very good point. Now go and personally assist me with something, I have a director to get yelled at by.”

As if he had heard, John Smith, more commonly known as the Doctor, strode onto set, leaving a veritable hurricane in his wake.

“Ianto, Jack. Have you met each other yet?” he shouted as he walked towards the current camera set-up. Then, without waiting for an answer, “if not, you probably should. One of you has to be pretend to be the other while he is pretending to be someone else. It will help if you at least know who each other is. Now, someone come and tell me something interesting about today’s schedule.”

Ianto looked across at the other man and was greeted with a dazzling smile. Ianto kept his face expressionless but quirked his inner eyebrow. This man clearly loved himself. Yes, Ianto may have liked the look of him to begin with, but by the looks of things no one could ever think as much of him as he thought of himself. Tosh may as well stop her search now.

But, he was nothing if not professional. Jack was still looking at him, but had made no indication to move. Ianto motioned to the coffee machine near him and pulled his face into a question. Jack nodded back and gave him another dazzling smile. In response Ianto quickly prepared two cups of coffee and took them both over to the waiting stuntman.

“So, you’re Ianto Jones, star of the show,” he drawled in an American accent.

Ianto recognised the slow speech for the effect it was. He was being flirted with.

“Yes, a pleasure to meet you.” Ianto held out his hand.

“Your accent is really that sexy in real life? Wow. I always assumed it was put on for interviews.”

Ianto gave him a sly smile. “Now, what kind of person would change their voice just for the effect?” he said, his eyes offering a challenge to the other man.

Jack paused for a second, before his face opened into a laugh. “You’re quite right Ianto Jones, that would be a very foolish thing to do indeed.” The slow drawl was now absent.

Ianto held his gaze for a moment, unwavering, before speaking again. “Now, please excuse me, I have to go to costume.” Ianto grinned again and lowered his voice into a low, near-growl that he knew worked on people. “By the way, love the coat.” He smiled at the look that crossed the stuntman’s face and sauntered away.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ianto was sitting in make-up having multiple facial injuries carefully etched onto his face when the Doctor approached him with the stunt co-ordinator, Owen Harper, in tow.

“Ianto! Need a word.”

“Doctor. What can I do for you?”

“Ah, it’s me actually, Ianto. I’ve changed my mind about the stunt at the weekend. The long fall; I want Jack to do it, not you,” Owen said.

Ianto spun in his chair to the annoyance of the make up artist and a trail of blood streaked across his cheek in quite the opposite direction than had been intended.

“What? But you promised, Owen.”

“I said I would try. But stronger winds are forecast than we anticipated and it’s not worth the risk.”

“Owen, we’ve been working together for years, you know how careful I am, you know I’m fit, you know I’m capable of this.”

“It’s not about whether or not you’re capable, Ianto, it’s whether or not it’s safe. And I’m just not 100 per cent happy about you doing this.”

“But it’s safe enough for a stuntman?” Ianto scoffed.

“That’s rather the point of stuntmen,” the Doctor put in.

“Well, can’t we postpone the jump to a day with a better forecast?” Ianto had been making feature films for long enough to know that this wasn’t possible, and he was aware that he was being churlish, but bloody hell, Owen had been promising him a decent stunt on their last three films together.

Owen scoffed at him. “You know that’s not possible, mate. Schedules are made around the producer, not an actor having a diva fit.”

“Fuck off, Owen.” Ianto knew that the stunt director was only telling the truth, but it was a truth he didn’t want to hear right now.

“Whatever. But you’re not doing the fall. Jack will do it for you,” and Owen marched out of the make-up trailer. The Doctor looked around him slightly awkwardly and then followed his stunt co-ordinator.

Ianto allowed the make-up artist to turn him back to the mirror and glowered as he was finished off.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

A short while later Ianto was sitting on his chair on the edge of the set waiting to be called and reading a newspaper.

“Hey there,” an American voice came from behind him. Not who he needed to see right now.

“Hello,” he replied politely, but didn’t look up from his paper.

“I hear you wanted to do the fall scheduled for the weekend.”

“Doesn’t really matter now.”

“No, I guess not. But I could really do with your help preparing for it. My job is to make you look good; and with you looking so good already I really don’t want to get that wrong.”

Ianto looked up at him. Was he flirting again?

“It’s just a fall. Do it however you want, it doesn’t make any difference to how I look.”

“Look, Ianto, it would be really helpful for me if I could spend some more time with you; watching you, seeing how you move, the way your body moves.”

Ianto studied him, his face bland. “You want to watch me move?”

The American’s grin came back. “Purely for research of course.”

“Of course,” Ianto replied, not bothering to hide the mile-wide streak of sarcasm in his voice.

“We finish at lunchtime today, maybe we could work together this afternoon?”

“Thank you for your interest, Jack, isn’t it? But I have an interview to do after we finish today.”

“Right. Okay, another time then.”

Ianto sighed as Jack turned and walked away, feeling inexplicably bad at taking out his frustrations on the other man.

“Hey, I really do like that coat,” he called out.

Ianto received a small smile over the man’s shoulder in reply.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ianto couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief as the interview ended. He really wished that some of these journalists could come up with some more original questions that the ones he was constantly asked. He had let Tosh leave part way through as he couldn’t think of a single thing she ever could have done in her life bad enough to make her sit through it all again.

Just when he thought his face was ready to crack from all the fake smiling and he didn’t have a single faux interested noise left in him, the enthusiastic reporter finally finished. Ianto showed her out of his trailer and waved to a security guard who was watching the set change on the soundstage to show her out. Ianto stood on the steps of his trailer watching her go and deciding how to kill the next couple of hours before meeting his family at their hotel.

“And you turned down an afternoon with me for that?”

Startled, Ianto looked down and saw Jack lounging against the end of his trailer.

“Have you been here the whole time?”

“Just the last few minutes. I couldn’t resist hearing all about your amazing rise from small-town Wales to Hollywood for the hundredth time.”

Ianto grinned lazily and leant back against the doorframe, mirroring Jack’s stance. “So you’ve heard the story before then?”

Jack looked wrong-footed for a second, before recovering quickly. “I told you, I do my research.”

Ianto considered him for a second.

“Alright then, so this research of yours, ‘watching me’; what exactly does that entail?”

Jack’s smile was dazzling and he held out his hand, “Come with me and I’ll show you.”

And dammit, Ianto could not resist that smile. “Fine. I have a couple of free hours.” But he thrust his hands into his pockets. He may be following that smile, but he wasn’t about to be led about by the hand like a child.

Jack grinned and walked away. Ianto hated himself a little, but he still followed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ianto was led through the soundstage and found himself in a far corner and standing in front of the last thing he expected himself to see.

“What is that?”

“It’s a trampoline.”

“I can see it is a trampoline, but what is it doing here?”

“I had it brought in so I can watch you fall, copy you.”

“You expect me to jump on that?”

“Yup.” Jack gave him that broad grin again. “It’s a vital piece of training equipment.” Ianto raised a speculative eyebrow and got a warm laugh in return. “Honestly. Trampolining is great for falls especially. There’s nothing like it for learning to feel your place in space.”

“My place in space?”

“Oh, I love the way your mouth wraps its way around those vowels. Yes, your place in space. If you’re upside down at the top of a jump, how do you know you’re upside down while you’re falling? And how do you get yourself into the right position to land? If you had been doing the jump Owen would have had you on one of these. I promise it will be a lot more fun with me.”

Ianto once again found himself unable to hold back a smile at the man’s infectious enthusiasm.

“Fine, what do you want me to do?”

“A very broad question, Ianto Jones, but for now we’ll start with you taking your shoes off and getting up there.”

Ianto did as he was told and hoisted himself onto the trampoline.

“Right, start by doing some low bounces to get the feel of it. No, don’t bend your knees too much as you land, that beds you in and you lose the bounce. That’s it, keep your legs straight, use your arms. See, you’re getting higher.”

A laughed bubbled up from Ianto. “This is so stupid.”

“You’re enjoying it though right?”

“Ha! Yes. What now?”

“Okay, when I say, at the top of the bounce just try and bring your legs up, push your body backwards and lie down in the air. Keep your arms flat, level with your body as you land. When you hit the bed, just lie there, don’t try to bounce back up. Ready?”

Ianto was still jumping in the air. “Okay.”

“Okay, try it on the next bounce.”

Ianto jumped high and at the top, leant backwards and brought his legs up straight in front of him. A second later, he landed on his back on the trampoline. He bounced up a little further again and before he knew it was laughing.

“This is ridiculous.”

Jack laughed with him. “Told you you’d enjoy it though. Let me teach you some more.”

Ianto struggled to his feet on the bouncy trampoline as Jack hoisted himself onto the bed. Jack stood in front of him.

“Okay, we’ll start with this. Take my hands and jump with me.”

“What?”

“Come on.” Jack held out his hands and with a suspicious look Ianto took them.

“Right, start jumping again, as you were.”

Ianto started to jump again and Jack bounced in time with him. They seemed to bounce even higher now as the two of them pushed off the bed together. Ianto suddenly found himself giggling.

“What are you laughing at?”

“Do you know how ridiculous this looks? Bloody hell, if the press could see me now.”

“I can just see the headlines. ‘Shock, horror; reserved Welsh actor seen having fun’.”

“Not ‘Bond bounces with handsome Yank?” Ianto grinned back.

“You think I’m handsome.”

“I was just paraphrasing the papers.”

“You’re still holding my hands though.”

“I thought that was part of the training?”

“Nope.”

Ianto laughed, but realised he still wasn’t letting go.

“Okay, let’s get back to the training then,” Jack stepped in. “When I say, at the top of the bounce, tuck your knees up to your chest, then lower them back down to land and bounce back as normal, okay?”

“Fine.”

They bounced a couple of times more, before Jack instructed him to tuck. Ianto did it, landed and bounced back up, still holding onto Jack’s hands. Jack complimented him on the move and had him do it a few more times before bringing them both to a halt on the trampoline.

Jack finally let go of Ianto’s hands.

“Ready to try something new and exciting?” Jack asked with a devilish glint in his eye.

“Go on then,” Ianto replied, still unable to resist a grin.

“Okay, but enough of me, let’s focus on the trampolining.”

Ianto laughed again as Jack moved to his side.

“Right. When you start jumping, once you’re high enough I want you to tuck your knees up again, I’m going to guide you over in a summersault, and you’ll put your legs down and land.”

“A summersault?” Ianto would deny forever that he squeaked.

“Yes, will be as easy as anything. Right, start bouncing.”

Shaking his head, Ianto started to jump again.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Okay.” Jack put his hands on Ianto’s waist, stretching up above him as Ianto jumped. “Next jump.”

Ianto bounced, lifted his knees to his chest and let Jack’s strong arms moved him through the air. He had a slight moment of disorientation, then brought his legs down, hoping to plant his feet on the trampoline bed.

But something happened, he mis-judged his landing and crashed to the bed, pulling Jack down on top of him. They lay in a tangled, gently bouncing heap on the trampoline and were both laughing. This was suddenly the funniest thing in the world to Ianto and he found himself struggling to get his breath back as he laughed. Jack’s body was warm and firm next to him and he realised he had no desire to be anywhere else but here right now. This was the most relaxed and happy he’d felt in an age.

Jack finally managed to pull himself together enough to talk.

“Okay, that wasn’t exactly how it was supposed to go.”

“No shit?”

“But you’re doing well. And look, you can land. If you can land you can fall.”

“Yeah, but Owen’s still not going to let me do it.” Ianto lay back and looked at the ceiling, his humour suddenly leaving him.

“It really means a lot to you, huh?”

Ianto signed. “I’m sick of being seen as the pretty man put in front of the camera who isn’t capable of doing anything else except look cool with a gun.”

“And you think doing a stunt will help that?”

“It would show I have some actual balls.”

“I doubt anyone doubts that you have balls. Besides, you do look very sexy with a gun.”

Jack had raised himself up on one arm and was leaning over Ianto now, pressing closer with a feral look in his eyes.

Disappointment filled Ianto chest. He had thought Jack was enjoying spending time with him, but no. he was just like everyone else. They only saw Ianto the actor, Ianto the face, Ianto the tough guy who looked good in a suit behind a gun. He dragged himself out from under Jack’s heavy body and shuffled his way to the edge of the trampoline.

“I have somewhere to be,” he said, jumping down onto the floor. He could feel Jack staring at his back as he bent over and pulled on his shoes.

“Oh, okay. Well, I’ll see you on location tomorrow night, yeah?”

Ianto ignored the trace of disappointment in Jack’s voice. “Yep. Goodnight.” And Ianto left, not even looking over his shoulder.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next day Ianto tried not to think too hard about what he was doing as he drove towards the soundstage. He was due on location in a few hours and knew the soundstage would be deserted apart from the set builders who would be setting up for the next sequence of set shots.

He didn’t need to flash any more identification than his smile at the security guard, before he was parking up and heading inside. He kept to the shadows at the edge of the big space and was ignored by the working carpenters and asserted technicians. He headed straight for the trampoline, kicked off his shoes and climbed on.

He did a couple of experimental bounces to get the feel of it again and then started to jump higher. He had watched some videos on You Tube the night before after dinner and picked up some tips. He now knew what he wanted to do. He used his arms until he was high enough and bent his body in the air, twisting and spinning before landing awkwardly on one leg and falling to one side.

“Fuck it,” he muttered. He got back to his feet and started to jump again.

At no point did he spot Jack watching him from the shadows. Jack watched him try and try and try again, a look of determination never leaving his face, until finally, the spinning and twisting resulting in Ianto landing squarely on the bed, facing the opposite direction, on his back with his arms slightly raised. A silent punch in the air and salute of victory followed. Jack sucked in a breath. Ianto had taught himself how to find his space in the air and manipulate his body into the prime position to land from a high fall.

He shrank back further as Ianto finally pulled himself off the trampoline and left the soundstage.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ianto got through the next few days filming on coffee and little sleep, practicing on the trampoline every afternoon. He knew it was pointless, but while he had the means and opportunity he wanted to get all the practice he could, so next time he could prove to Owen that he was the right man for the job.

He avoided Owen and Jack as much as he could, but it wasn’t easy. Owen used Jack to walk him through all the fight sequences they were filming on the night shoots and Ianto was feeling uncomfortable spending so much time in such close proximity to the other man. But Jack didn’t make another move on him, didn’t mention the other day again, so Ianto hoped they could both forget it.

Then the day for the long fall arrived. Ianto sat in his trailer and peered at some new pages of script he’d been handed for the following day. Tosh appeared with a steaming cup of coffee.

“Ianto, whilst no-one could ever accuse you of being a chatter-box, you’re even quieter than normal. Is this still about the jump, or is about Jack now?”

“What?” Ianto grimaced slightly as he failed to check his surprise.

Tosh gave him a small smile. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you and I’ve seen the way you look at him when you think no one else is looking. What happened?”

“I thought for a minute he was different. But he’s not. He sees me just the same way everyone else does.”

Tosh leaned over and squeezed his arm.

“Sorry, Ianto.”

Ianto shrugged. “Having a decent love life was never going to be easy in this job. Someone will take me seriously one day won’t they, Tosh?”

“You mean see past the handsome, quiet and interesting, but could kill you in a heartbeat exterior, and into the soft, quiet and interesting, but could kill you in a heartbeat squidgy centre?”

“You realise you’re not helping?”

“Ianto, you’ll meet the right person when it’s the right time. And you’ll get different roles. People will realise you’re more than just the pretty boy who looks hot firing a gun. It will happen for you, Ianto, all of it.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because you’re one of the good guys, and the good guys always come out on top.”

“You’re too good to me, you know that don’t you, Tosh?”

“Yup,” Tosh grinned. She stood and ruffled Ianto’s hair. “I have some calls to make. They’ll need you outside soon.”

“Okay. And thanks. For the… coffee.”

“You’re welcome.”

Ianto watched the trailer door swing shut after her, put down the script pages and leant back, drinking in the smell of his coffee while he waited for it to cool. Suddenly his door burst open and Tosh flew back in.

“Ianto, come quickly, you have to see this.”

Tosh disappeared and Ianto got up, following her, curiosity piqued.

Outside he saw the Doctor pacing, hand rubbing at his forehead, and Owen shouting at Jack. That’s when he noticed that Jack was standing slightly awkwardly; listing to one side, seeming to favour one leg. Ianto hurried across.

“What’s the problem?”

“He’s the fucking problem,” Owen said, gesturing at Jack.

“What?”

Jack gave him a resigned look.

“It’s my back, I’ve strained a muscle. If I attempt the high fall like this I risk screwing up the landing or causing permanent damage to my back.”

“The whole thing’s screwed. We’ve got the set up booked for tonight and tonight only and you’ve gone and cocked it up.” Owen had not calmed down any.

“Why doesn’t Ianto do it? That was the original plan wasn’t it?” Jack suggested.

“He can’t do it. We haven’t done any sort of training with him. Anyone can throw themselves off a fucking building, but he won’t have a clue how to land.”

“Actually, Owen, Ianto can land just fine. We’ve been working on it this week, together.”

Ianto tried to hide his shock at Jack’s words. Had Jack seen him practicing, or was he lying? No, Jack wouldn’t lie when it came to safety, so he must have seen him. Ianto wasn’t sure whether to be embarrassed or affronted. But he was distracting himself from the real issue at hand, and Jack had just offered him a life-line.

“He’s right. We’ve been practicing all week, and I fall right every time. I can do this.”

Owen was silent for a moment, looking between the two men.

“What do you think, Doctor?” he called.

The Doctor stopped pacing.

“If you get this right you save the producers a lot of money and everyone’s happy. You get this wrong and die, the producers are not so happy.” He paused. “I don’t like the producer much anyway. May as well try it.”

Ianto stared at him for a beat, then turned back to Owen, “So I’m doing it?”

Owen glared at him, then signed. “Looks like it. It’s the next set-up so get into costume and I’ll see you on set. For the record, I am not happy about this, and Jack, I am taking you on your word he can do this. I wouldn’t trust anyone else’s word like this.”

“Owen, if I didn’t think Ianto was capable, I wouldn’t suggest it, but Ianto is more than able to do this.”

Ianto kept his eyes on Owen.

“Fine,” the stunt co-ordinator said. “Let’s get on with this.” And he stalked away.

Ianto turned to look at Jack. “You’ve been watching me.”

Jack grinned at him. “You’re easy to watch.”

Ianto rolled his eyes. “Thanks for putting in a good word for me, but save it with the cheesy lines. And definitely stop with the stalking.” Ianto turned away, heading for the costume trailer. He walked past Tosh who had watched the whole exchange with a look of confusion on her face.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

An hour later Ianto was in his trailer, in costume and waiting to be called for the fall. Tosh knocked and let herself in.

“Are you ready?”

“I think so.”

“Excited?”

Ianto turned and grinned at her. “Definitely. I feel bad that Jack’s hurt, but it couldn’t have worked out better for me.”

“No, it couldn’t, could it?” Tosh said thoughtfully. “You know, I saw Jack arrive and he seemed to be fine and after everyone had left earlier he walked away perfectly normally for a couple of steps until he saw me watching, then the limp magically came back.”

“You think he’s faking?”

“It certainly looks like it.”

“Well, why would he do that?”

Ianto couldn’t decipher the look Tosh was giving him, but she looked frustrated as she finally said, “I can’t begin to imagine. They’ll call for you in a minute, but I’m leaving now to get a prime viewing spot.” She flashed him a quick, encouraging smile and left.

Ianto was still confused as he watched her leave.

He was still confused when he was collected and taken towards the building the fall was being done from. Jack was at the bottom, standing awkwardly next to the large air mattress that sat high on a huge stack of cardboard boxes. Ianto was ushered into the building and up in the lift. Getting out at the top, he was led up some stairs and out onto the roof of the building.

The first thing he noticed was the stronger wind up here. Owen was waiting at the edge of the building, looking down. Ianto walked over to join him and also looked over the edge of the building. He could see the crew gathered around, alongside a few cast members. The cameras were all set up and the Doctor was standing behind a bank of monitors.

“Sure you’re ready for this Ianto?” Owen asked and Ianto noticed that he had lost a touch of his normal snark.

“Yes, definitely.”

“We’ll come back up to film the fight scene later, but it will end with you being pushed over the edge of the building. Then tomorrow night we’ll film you landing miraculously unharmed on the back of the moving open recycling truck tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“So, back to now. Adam, one of our other stunt guys, is dressed as your attacker and he will push you, face first, over the edge. You need to get yourself so you land where that nice big cross is on the air bag. Think you can manage that?”

“Yes.”

“Good, because it will be the most expensive fall in history if not.”

“So nice to know you care.”

Owen put a hand on Ianto’s shoulder. “Seriously, Ianto, you’re a nice guy. Try not to fuck this up, yeah?”

Ianto smiled back. “I’ll try.”

“Right, come on. Let’s get this in one take.”

Ianto nodded and stepped back to his position. Owen raised a walkie talkie to his lips and Ianto tuned out the back and forth as he concentrated on what was about to happen. Suddenly it hit him; what Tosh had said. Jack had been faking his injury, the injury that was allowing Ianto to do this stunt. The stunt that only Jack knew he had been secretly practicing for; the stunt that only Jack knew why he really wanted to do it. Jack who he had accused of only being interested in him because of who he was. Gorgeous, undeniably sexy Jack was doing this for him.

Shit. He’d rather buggered that one up then, hadn’t he?

“Okay, positions,” Owen called.

Ianto shook his head to clear it and stepped towards his mark at the edge of the building. Adam moved over close and took a grip on his clothing.

“Ready for this? You’ll love it; it’s bloody brilliant while you’re falling.”

“I hope the landing’s as much fun,” Ianto laughed back.

“Can you stop fucking laughing please. You’re supposed to be fighting to the death,” Owen called over.

“Sorry,” they both muttered.

The walkie talkies squawked again as quiet was called for on set. The rolling sequence was run through and finally action was called.

Ianto sucked in a deep breath and braced himself. Adam shoved him hard in the back, and then he was falling. The sensation was amazing. The feeling of having nothing at all supporting him and free-falling, air rushing past him, was almost indescribable. Somehow Ianto managed to remember to windmill his arms and cycle his legs for the camera as he fell, then twisted his body in the air. His back was parallel to the air mattress, arms and legs fractionally higher. And then, with a whoosh, his body impacted the air mattress. It billowed out around him and he sunk down into it, almost cocooned as it quickly slowed then stopped his fall.

A broad grin split his face as he lay still, buzzing and amazed by what he had just done. He heard someone call his name, a panicked edge to the American accent, and then he remembered. He raised his arm into the air giving the signal that he was okay. The world around him erupted into applause, he heard a yell of “cut”, and Ianto dropped his arm again, still revelling in the adrenaline and joy of the moment.

The air mattress started to move around him and Jack’s face appeared next to him.

Ianto looked over and up at him, still grinning madly.

“That’s a lot of climbing for someone with a bad back.”

“What can I say? Miraculous recovery.”

Ianto impulsively reached a hand out and hooked it behind Jack’s head, pulling him for a quick but firm kiss.

“Thank you.”

Jack gave him a brilliant smile back.

“I’ll let you jump off more buildings if that’s the thanks I get.”

“Oh, I haven’t even begun to thank you yet.” Ianto grinned back. Jack laughed with him and grasped his hands, and together they spilled off the deflating mattress.

Owen was waiting for them and clapped Ianto on the back.

“Bloody well done mate, that was perfect. Great work on finding your place in space up there.”

Ianto shot a glance at Jack and smiled. “You know, I think I’ve found it down here as well.”

Behind the cameras, Tosh smiled to herself and set about cancelling appointments in Ianto’s diary.