jooles34 | You

Title: You
Author: Jooles34
Sin: Wrath
Characters: Jack and Ianto
Word count: 900
Rating: 15 for language
Spoilers: Only if you don’t know the relationship between the boys.
Disclaimer: Torchwood does not belong to me
Summery: Jack needs to take his anger out on someone. Set at the end of “Meat”
AN: The end takes the story back to canon, not out of it...

Jack flicked off the CCTV image once Gwen and Rhys were out of shot. He tried to control his breathing. He had taken his anger out on Gwen, but it wasn’t Gwen he was angry at. Wasn’t her he should be taking his wrath out on.

No. Someone else needed to know. Needed to know what they had done.

Rising, Jack headed back out of his office, nudging Ianto out of the way to lean out of the door. He glared at Owen and Tosh.

“And the rest of you go home too.”

He turned and saw Ianto looking at him, an unspoken question in his eyes.

“You stay.” he muttered at the younger man.

He took the near empty glass from Ianto’s unresisting hands and striding to his desk refilled it before handing it back.

He walked away from Ianto again.

“Sit down.” he barked.

Ianto sat obediently and unquestioningly as Jack sank into his office chair opposite him. Jack took a sip of his whiskey and watched as Ianto mirrored him. He paused, rolling the amber liquid around his mouth, enjoying the sting of it on the soft flesh, allowing it to roll under his tongue where the sting was even sweeter.

He experimented. Looking at Ianto he took another sip. As he thought Ianto raised his own glass to those perfect lips and also took another drink.

“What Gwen was feeling out there today?” Jack started, “That’s what I feel everyday now because of you.”

Ianto looked up at him, face neutral as always, but shock in those blue eyes.

“Every time we step out there. Every time we engage with someone or some being I now have that extra worry of you.”

Jack pre-empted Ianto’s attempt to speak before he had made it.

“No. I am talking and you will listen.”

Jack stared right at Ianto and took another sip of his whiskey, savouring the pause, knowing how uncomfortable the silent scrutiny would make the young man. He watched Ianto raise his own glass to his lips and take a deep drink in an effort to fill the gap.

“Do you know what it did to me today; watching you stand there with that gun pressed against you? And then what do you do when you’re released? You start to fight the man with the gun. Most people would run for cover, but not you. Not Ianto, no; you have to take care of everyone else; make sure no-one else gets hurt, so you fight the man with the gun.

“And I couldn’t help you. I couldn’t get a clean shot. I just had to watch. Useless. And that moment, that moment he stood with that gun over you, I though that was it. I thought you were gone; that I had lost you. And I thought my world was ending.

“I will not be made to feel like that by someone like you.”

The anger was thick in Jack’s voice now and his chair scraped along the floor as he stood quickly. He moved out from behind his desk, striding into the room. He turned and jabbed a finger towards Ianto.

“It’s all your fault.

“I swore to myself that I would never fall for anyone again. Never let myself care that much for anyone again. Then you, you Ianto fucking Jones, stride into my life. All tight jeans, slight smiles and swagger.

“You made me want you and then, then, you betrayed me. But I thought no, this is good, I could never let you close to me after that. I’d be safe from you. But no. You carried on. Carried on being you, and you wormed your way in. Got under my skin, into my head, into my…

“You.”

Jack snarled the word at Ianto. He didn’t even flinch. Didn’t move. The anger sparked again. What did he have to do? The stupid man trusted him even now. Even now when he was shouting and railing at him, Ianto just sat there and took it. Took it all from him, because he knew this was what Jack needed and he’d do anything for Jack wouldn’t he?

What did he have to do to get a reaction from this man? Get an ounce of fear? He needed a reaction to his anger, needed to see the fear in the eyes of the person that made him more afraid than anyone had in longer than he remembered.

Jack looked at the whiskey glass in his hand. Then threw it. It hit the ground and shattered into a hundred pieces, pebbles of glass skittering across the floor.

Ianto flinched this time, but still didn’t move.

Jack rushed at Ianto and crouched on the floor in front of him, between his legs. He grabbed the front of Ianto’s open waistcoat, bunching the material in his fists. Ianto kept his face turned away but Jack leaned in close.

“It’s your fault.” His voice was quieter now, but he spoke through gritted teeth. “You have done this to me. You. You’ve made me care. Godammit. You’ve made me love again. You’ve made me love you.”
Ianto finally looked up at him, tears in his eyes.

“Jack, I don’t feel right.”

Jack rocked back on his heels, releasing Ianto’s waistcoat and moving his hands to the other man’s knees.

“No. You wouldn’t.” he said quietly, looking up to meet Ianto’s gaze. “Retcon never mixes well with whiskey.”