FIC: Torchwood (drabble) - Discovery

[fajrdrako]

Title: Discovery
Author: fajrdrako
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Toshiko, Ianto, Jack/Jack, obliquely Jack/Ianto
Challenge: tw100, challenge: episode tag
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine, no claims, all property of the BBC.
Notes: Episode tag for Torchwood series 1, episode 12, "Captain Jack Harkness". Cross-posted to my lj, and to tw100.


Discovery

Toshiko wanted only to sleep, but the Rift was going mad and suddenly Ianto wanted to talk. He seemed agitated.

He said, "Why did you say you know Jack's gay? What happened in 1941?"

"He met someone, that's all," said Tosh. "He's long dead now, but Jack's hurting."

"What happened?"

"Why don't you ask Jack?"

"No. What happened?"

"They danced. They kissed. It was sweet. We had to leave then. He didn't want to."

Ianto looked haggard. He'd been overworking, too. "They kissed?" he said.

""He really loved him," said Tosh. "Be kind to him."

"I always am," said Ianto.

Comments

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

Ianto looked haggard. He'd been overworking, too.

I love Omniscient Narrator Misdirection: you used it to perfect effect here. Ouch.

The final line is a bit mystifying. I don't know whether to take it at face value or not. I suspect not, but then I'm left wondering what exactly he means, so soon after his treachery.

Poor Jack. Poor Ianto.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Poor Jack. Poor Ianto.

Yeah. I've been meaning to make this idea into a major fic, and maybe I will one day. (When I finish the umpteen dozen things I've already started, right?) Ever since reading that Toshiko told Ianto by IM, right after "Captain Jack Harkness", that she knew now that Jack was really gay, I've been wondering what he made of that. And it clarified to me some of the events in "End of Days" - specifically, that Ianto, after being so faithfully a champion of Jack's in "Captain Jack Harkness", would take Owen's side in the betrayal. Ianto is confused. He must have been even more confused when Jack promptly disappeared and left them - after having died for them all. Roller coaster emotions?

Anyway, that is just a little glimpse of my attempts to unravel all this. If Ianto's comment at the end was ambiguous, it was partly because I wanted him to hide his reaction from Tosh, and partly because it deserved a lot more than the hind end of 100 words. I intended it to be ironic, rueful, even a little angry, maybe. But it really doesn't matter in terms of this drabble, because Tosh doesn't get it. And Ianto isn't ready to tell her he's angry because he's just learned his lover was kissing someone else - while Ianto was working so hard throughout the episode to do what he thought Jack wanted.

Toshiko is just such a wonderful candidate for viewpoint games.

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

Oh, I hope you will write that major fic.

I'd forgotten about that IM. God, how awful. I once found out about a wandering man in much the same way. My blood ran cold, I can assure you.

So we have Ianto. Ianto who does not sleep around. Ianto who is beginning a sexual relationship for only the second time in his life (according to the TW yearbook, he gave his virginity to Lisa). So we can reasonably assume that he doesn't give himself lightly.

He's got this fragile new relationship. With his love's killer. With his boss. With his mark. With a MAN.

He's insecure, and probably terrified of falling in love again.

He's falling in love anyway.

And Jack ("there's no one" *) yoinks the emotional rug right out from under the most emotionally unbalanced and needing person he knows. Not intentionally, of course, but the effect is the same. I'm not even sure he realizes that what happened in 1941 wasn't just between him and Real!Jack.

Meanwhile, Ianto can confide in no one. (I still wonder how Owen knew. Or was it a lucky jab?)

It's a disaster waiting to happen.


* Jack and I are going to have a little talk about that statement one of these days.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I hope you will write that major fic.

Yeah. Me too.

I'd forgotten about that IM.

I hadn't forgotten, because it was a 'eureka' moment for me. I was perplexed by Ianto's action in "End of Days": after all that had happened, why had he betrayed Jack? to side with, of all people, Owen, whom he'd just shot? That IM gave me the answer. Ianto was then unsure of Jack's allegiances, unsure how far he could trust Jack - because I'm willing to bet Jack didn't tell Ianto anything about Captain Jack. And wouldn't. For a lot of reasons, including not wanting to upset Ianto.

Though I haven't forgotten it, that IM is a difficult item to find and though I know I kept a copy when I first saw it, I can't find it now, and it doesn't seem to be on iantos_desktop. Drat.

My blood ran cold, I can assure you.

I can imagine.

Ianto who is beginning a sexual relationship for only the second time in his life (according to the TW yearbook, he gave his virginity to Lisa).

And who, according to one of the novels, has feelings of discomfort about being bi anyway. So this is all very, very important emotionally to him.

He's got this fragile new relationship. With his love's killer. With his boss. With his mark. With a MAN.

With a man who hasn't confided anything about his past, his age, or his real identity. (Though Ianto may not have questioned the 'Captain Jack' persona.) A man who knows way more about Ianto (in every sense) than Ianto knows about him.

He's insecure, and probably terrified of falling in love again.

Yes. He couldn't help it, and it isn't that Jack doesn't bring him a lot of happiness and fulfillment. (Bringing meaning to his life. And lots and lots of good sex. And "it's more fun with him around.") But how much can he trust it? How vulnerable is that happiness? Might shatter any moment.

Jack ("there's no one" *) yoinks the emotional rug right out from under the most emotionally unbalanced and needing person he knows. Not intentionally, of course, but the effect is the same.

Yes. Jack didn't intend for Ianto to know, I'm sure. But Toshiko blabbed - in a discreet sort of way. Which is even worse for Ianto. I don't think Jack has any idea that Tosh said what she said to him on IM. He was somewhat distracted by the Rift crisis and thrown off balance by his grief for Captain Jack - and I don't think he and Ianto even had a chance to talk to each other again until the awkward 'date' conversation in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" after the Year that Never Was.

I still wonder how Owen knew. Or was it a lucky jab?

All Owen knew or guessed was that Ianto had a thing for his boss. As far as Owen implied or knew, it was purely on the level of fantasy and wishful thinking.

* Jack and I are going to have a little talk about that statement one of these days.

It shocked me at first. Then I found it interesting.

I wish I knew more about why Jack and Ianto kept their relationship secret through series 1. I have theories. I think it must have been Ianto's choice, not Jack's. But we aren't explicitly told. We just know that they kept their affair a secret (successfully, though Owen guessed something) until Jack kissed Ianto publicly in "End of Days".

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

feelings of discomfort about being bi anyway

This will be explored a bit in S3, apparently.

Er, I don't know how much you know about Jack and Ianto for S3... but it should be great. Euros Lyn is really into their love.

I was just watching End of Days again, and was astonished at the difference between the Ianto whom Jack left behind and the Ianto who welcomed him home. Jack left Ianto a frightened boy and returned to find him a man.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

This will be explored a bit in S3, apparently.

Excellent!

I don't know how much you know about Jack and Ianto for S3...

As little as possible. I am carefully avoiding spoilers. I saw the trailers, so I know they're both in it, and that they kiss.

but it should be great. Euros Lyn is really into their love.

Yay! Hooray!

I was just watching End of Days again, and was astonished at the difference between the Ianto whom Jack left behind and the Ianto who welcomed him home.

They all changed. Ianto matured and got more of a sense of self. Gwen got a sense of her own authority and competence. (Just compare the wet PC we saw at the beginning of "Everything Changes" with the woman we see in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang".) Owen got over some of his grudges, and acquired more of a sense of style. Tosh... changed least. I can't think of changes in Tosh.

Jack left Ianto a frightened boy and returned to find him a man.

I guess it was a good thing he left.

Did Ianto perhaps need time to get over grieving for Lisa?

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

Did Ianto perhaps need time to get over grieving for Lisa?

He must have at least needed to put some time and space between one love and the next.

The break in their progression certainly clarified Ianto's importance for Jack, as we see Jack abashed before him in the Office Scene.

For Ianto... time to himself, no one claiming him, no one using him, no reason to use others, no sketchy motives, no conflicts of interest. Just get through the day, and the next. He could exist for himself, without running himself through emotional sniper fire all day.

It could be that --even counting the confusion, grief, and anger over Jack's disappearance-- Ianto had not been so much at peace since Doomsday. Which says some pretty desperate things about his quality of life.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Ianto had not been so much at peace since Doomsday.

I think that's true. And he had the chance to think about Jack without either the pressure of emergencies or the distraction of Jack's presence. Not to mention his pheromones.

[silentstep.livejournal.com]

Owen didn't know. Man, EVERYONE mishears him, but maybe it's just 'cause I watch with subtitles when they start getting agitated and their accents get too thick for me to understand. To the best of my recollection (but I've got a pretty good memory)-
IANTO: You've got to let Diane go. Like I did with Lisa.
OWEN: Don't compare yourself to me. You're just the teaboy.
IANTO: I'm much more than that. Jack needs me.
OWEN: In your dreams, Ianto. In your sad, wet dreams where you're his part time shag, maybe.
Owen does not accuse Ianto of being Jack's part-time shag. Owen accuses Ianto of dreaming of being Jack's part-time shag. Owen's saying that Ianto wants Jack, but that Jack and Ianto don't have any kind of sexual relationship at all, meaningless or otherwise.

Sorry. Your entirely random rant from a stranger, on a comment that is internet-ancient. Um. Yes.

(As to the asterisked line, I tell myself that at that point, Jack was just so messed up himself that he simply didn't recognize what Ianto was offering. Didn't believe that Ianto was there for him. Maybe year-that-never-was!Ianto did something to change Jack's mind, or something. Because otherwise THAT LINE. Srsly writers, are you *trying* to make Jack look like ten kinds of bastard?)

...Um actually I really like your reading of the situation and I must remember that for when I get all confused as to Ianto's actions in that episode.

Okay! Random stranger going away now!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I agree with you, that Owen didn't know about a Jack/Ianto relationship till, at best, be saw Jack kiss Ianto in "End of Days". But it's still often generally unclear who knows what in Torchwood - and I like that. Lots of room for speculation.

Me interpretation of the 'there's no one' line: either

(1) Jack and Ianto have an open relationship which, whatever its private nature, is agreed to be no reason not to pursue sex with others (and this would be born out with Ianto's willingness to snog the girls, and Patrick, in Almost Perfect

or

(2) at this point the relationship between Jack and Ianto is secret and Jack has promised not to reveal it to anyone under any circumstances.

Or even (3) Jack really does think he's stuck in the past and will never see Ianto again - or at least, not for almost 70 years. This seems unlikely to me, but possible.

Glad you dropped by!

[hab318princess.livejournal.com]

loved that, read all the comments too and it's so complicated (I think Jack only really has time to sift through all his emotions whilst on the Valiant -hence the date question)

*hugs Ianto* because finding out the man you fall for fell in love in one night must be so hard

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, and Ianto has no information he can use to sort out his feelings. In the end, he did rather well, considering.

[raissad.livejournal.com]

Well done on the new batch. :)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Many thanks!