skidmo_fic | It's in His Smile (PG)

Title: It’s in His Smile
Rating: PG
Pairing: Ianto/Jack
Word Count: 905
Warning: Spoilers for End of Days and Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me...sadly
Feedback: yes, please.
Summary: Ianto misses Jack’s smile.
A/N: Holy crap, I wrote Jack/Ianto. Written for the Song Lyrics Challenge. Prompt was “When you smile at me you know exactly what you do” - Everything - Michael Buble

He’d been convinced that it wasn’t done on purpose. Jack flirted with everyone.

No, really. Everyone.

He flirted with the pizza delivery boys. (Also the pizza delivery girls, but Ianto thought they must have complained because there hadn’t been any delivery girls sent for quite some time. Not since…well, not for quite some time.) He flirted with the poor, confused tourists who occasionally stopped by the office. (Ianto was certain Jack watched the CCTV just to see when someone stopped by, because it never failed that if Jack was in the hub when someone came in, he’d find his way into the office before they left.) He flirted with every police officer they ever had to work with. (Sometimes to their advantage, mostly not.)

There really wasn’t anyone Jack didn’t flirt with.

So when he turned that brilliant smile in Ianto’s direction, Ianto knew it wasn’t anything special. It was just…Jack.

He wasn’t hurt by it. You couldn’t be hurt that someone smiled at you. And you definitely couldn’t be hurt that Jack smiled at you.

After all, it wasn’t Jack’s fault that his smile made Ianto’s knees tremble just a little. It wasn’t Jack’s fault that the closest Ianto ever came to letting his mask fall was when he was faced with those shiny teeth and those dimples. It wasn’t Jack’s fault that his smile made Ianto want to act completely unprofessionally. Jack didn’t know any of these things.

Ianto didn’t know either. Not at first. He didn’t realize what it was that made him feel this way until Jack was gone.

He’d had a lot of time then to figure out what it was that he missed about Jack.

He hadn’t thought about it when Jack was dead. He’d been consumed with grief, but he hadn’t thought much beyond the fact that Jack was dead. That was enough to shut down everything else.

But when Jack left, when he just disappeared, ran off and left them to deal with his absence, Ianto had time to think.

He was angry at first. How dare he? How dare he leave them? How dare he leave Ianto? Without so much as a goodbye.

Then he reminded himself that this was Jack. Owen had been right. He was just a part-time shag. Jack didn’t need him.

But it didn’t help. It didn’t stop him missing Jack. So he sat down one night and listed off all the things that might be making him so upset. All the things he missed.

He missed the harassment. Well, not the harassment itself, but the banter that followed. He missed the ease with which they had played off each other.

He missed making Jack’s industrial strength coffee. He’d made it for the others once, after Jack left, but Owen had grimaced when he tasted it and Gwen and Tosh smiled politely and dumped their mugs out when they thought he wasn’t looking.

He missed the casual touches. Jack’s hand on his back or Jack’s shoulder brushing his.

He missed the way Jack smelled. The way he smelled when he’d been out all night. The way he smelled when he’d been in all day. The way he smelled after sex and the way he smelled first thing in the morning.

All these things were true. Ianto missed all these things. But he knew they weren’t the reason he was missing Jack so much.

It wasn’t until Gwen came up to the tourist office to chat one day and left him with a pitying smile that Ianto realized it.

He missed Jack’s smile. He knew it meant nothing when Jack smiled at him, but he missed knowing he had put that smile on Jack’s face. That smile that could light up the world. He did that. Other people did too, but sometimes, that smile was for Ianto.

When they were stuck in the Himalayas, freezing their arses off, Ianto thought of that smile, and it made the nights just a little warmer.

***

When Jack showed up in the hub one day, no fanfare, no announcements, he looked tired. He had his rucksack on his back and he hugged them each in turn. Ianto held himself back, watching as Jack brushed off their questions with a weary grimace. It was Tosh who first suggested that Jack needed his rest and they could catch up in the morning.

Before he left that night, Ianto brewed a pot of Jack’s industrial strength coffee. He poured a cup and carried it down to Jack’s office. Jack said nothing when he set it on the desk in front of him, but Ianto stayed to watch him drink it. Jack picked up the mug and held it to his nose, breathing in the scent. A hint of a smile appeared on his face. He took a sip and the smile got a little bigger. Then he looked up at Ianto and stood up, holding his arms out to him. Ianto hesitated only briefly before allowing himself to be wrapped up in those arms. He buried his face in Jack’s neck and breathed him in. It was a scent he couldn’t place, but it was still Jack.

When Ianto finally pulled back, Jack was grinning, and Ianto’s knees went as weak as they ever had.

“My Ianto,” Jack murmured, reaching out a hand to brush his fingers lightly down Ianto’s face. “You always know how to make me smile.”

fin

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Love Me Do - The Beatles

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

misslucyjane

Yay!!! I like :D.

From:

It's in His Smile (PG)

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags