FIC: Torchwood (drabble) - Outlook

[fajrdrako]

Title: Outlook
Author: fajrdrako
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack/Ianto
Challenge: tw100, challenge: resurrection
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine, no claims, all property of the BBC.
Notes: Spoilers for Torchwood episode 1x04, "Cyberwoman". Cross-posted to my lj, and to tw100.


Outlook

First, Ianto had died at Lisa's hand, and had been resurrected by Jack. Everything was the opposite of what it was. Lisa became the enemy; Jack, the lover and mentor.

Death was an escape denied him. "I almost destroyed the world. How can anyone live with himself after that?" he asked.

Jack's hand on his shoulder was a comfort. "I did it once. Lose yourself in acts of courage."

"I don't think I can. Help me."

"I can't," said Jack. "Healing is something that happens inside you. All I can offer you is love. But I have plenty of that."

Comments

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

Ah, my favorite Jack and Ianto theme: Ianto growing strong in Jack's nourishing love. We see the way Ianto buries himself in Jack's embraces; Jack as straight and tall as an oak, sustaining and supporting Ianto.

Poor Jack. I hope Ianto is strong enough to comfort him.


Lose yourself in acts of courage.

Ianto's "fake it 'til you are it" method of performing Courageous Acts is paying off, finally. I can't wait to see what we get in S3. He's my Brave Little Toaster. :-)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

my favorite Jack and Ianto theme: Ianto growing strong in Jack's nourishing love.

I love that, too.

Poor Jack. I hope Ianto is strong enough to comfort him.

In series 1, he wasn't - and we saw several examples of that. Turning his back on him in "Small Worlds". Betraying him in "End of Days", and then regretting it. In series 2, he's learning better - moral support in "Sleeper", for example. He's getting there, with some lapses. Perhaps in series 3.

But there's a dual problem there: Jack isn't trusting enough to confide in him yet. Not that we've seen. Jack trusts Ianto's character, but not his strength.

Yeah: it'll be interesting to see how Ianto acts in series 3.

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

I'm almost willing to give Ianto a pass for his treachery in "End of Days". He was still so fragile, the calamity still so immediate, that the apparition of Lisa --whole and beautiful-- would have broken whatever had managed to heal in the short time since her death.

Jack's kiss of forgiveness must have been a kind of hell in itself to a bewildered heart. Then to lose him...

I wouldn't trust Ianto's strength either: to a certain point, but no farther.


I'm hoping for some Grade A Jones-brand ass-kicking in S3. :-) And perhaps we'll see Jack open up a bit? Some secrets revealed?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'll give Ianto a pass for any of it - he's very fragile all through series 1, which is the point. Jack knows it - well, after "Cyberwoman" he knows it. I think he took Ianto at face value before that, and Ianto is good at putting up a front even when he's dying inside. (As Tosh saw in "Greeks Bearing Gifts".)

Yes, the kiss must have been wonderful and terrible. Ianto had quite an emotional roller-coaster ride there. He makes a total commitment to Jack in "Captain Jack Harkness" and then learns (to some degree) that Jack loved someone else while he was gone, but he doesn't talk about it - at least, not to Ianto. Jack's back, but (as far as we see) pretty much ignores Ianto until Ianto, shaken by seeing Lisa, opts to open the Rift - and then he sees Jack shot before his eyes. He's horrified. And then he learns that Jack can return from the dead and is immortal, but Jack never told him. Then Jack dies again, apparently for real. And comes back, and kisses him in forgiveness, then takes off with a smile on his face and no explanation.

Ianto must be a total wreck. Too much happened to him, and Jack never confided certain basic and important things.

I'm hoping for some Grade A Jones-brand ass-kicking in S3. :-)

Me too. Also some Grade A Cooper-brand ass-kicking, but we see some of that in the trailer.

And perhaps we'll see Jack open up a bit? Some secrets revealed?

Wouldn't that be great?

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

God, you spell it all out like that and it's a cruel burden for such a young man.

Gabbling about Ianto...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

And that, I say, warming to the topic, is only the tip of the iceberg - the stuff that happened within a few days of the end of season 1. Ianto is still adjusting - reeling? - from the realization that he's in love with a man; Jack is his first male lover, he has qualms about being bi (according to one of the novels) and his previous lifestyle with Lisa was completely het. We don't know a lot about the background, but there are hints that he was raised as a Christian - he's the one who reads from Revelations in "End of Days". Even with Jack's comforting "no quaint categories" philosophy to help him, Ianto must have interior orientation issues, religious issues, identity issues, and coming-out issues.

Plus the guilt of having deliberately seduced Jack for his own purposes. Plus the guilt of failing to save Lisa, and having caused Tanzaki's death.

Plus the stress of working for Torchwood - facing cannibals, fairies, shape-shifters, Weevils... the everyday dangers they all face. Ianto was an archivist. He's gaining battle skills at an impressive pace (and enjoying it), but it must all add to the stress.

Re: Gabbling about Ianto...

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

I can gabble about Ianto for DAYS.

Yes to all you say, and your icon shows the storm not far beneath the calm.

I cannot begin to imagine how terrifying it must have been, the first time Ianto gave himself to Jack. To finally go through with it... the shame, the guilt, the self-justification, the determination, the awkwardness, and no doubt a treacherous pleasure.

Did Jack feel something for him, or was he just psyched to get a sweet piece of virgin tail?

God, I just want to hold him. (I know, that's Jack's job.)


I seem to recall from Euros Lyn or GDL that Ianto's orientation issues will be somewhat addressed in S3. (As well as the source of his anguish, whatever that is.)

I would love to read the explicitly Christian dialogue that was cut from Ianto's scenes over the course of S2.

Re: Gabbling about Ianto...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I can gabble about Ianto for DAYS.

I suppose I can too - as I am probably proving. And what fun it is!

To finally go through with it... the shame, the guilt, the self-justification, the determination, the awkwardness, and no doubt a treacherous pleasure.

Sure. If it had been simply a torment, a self-sacrifice, Ianto could have tolerated that - anything for Lisa's sake. But to actually like it, to be truly attracted to Jack, to actually like him - it must have set up any number of levels of pain and guilt.

Did Jack feel something for him, or was he just psyched to get a sweet piece of virgin tail?

I think there are three answers for that. One is that Jack doesn't necessarily differentiate - liking people comes easily to him, loving people comes easily to him, and sex is his favourite thing, casual or otherwise. So to him, especially the first time, there's a lot of caring in the mix.

The second answer: He really liked Ianto.

The third answer: Jack himself had been through a hard time. He'd had lover(s) and friends at Torchwood who had been murdered by a friend. It was a new century and the Doctor still hadn't come for him. He was trying to cope and I think he was really, really vulnerable at that point - he needed someone like Ianto, to understand and love him - as well as offering lots of sex. And I think this is why he didn't look to closely at what Ianto was offering. He wasn't suspicious because he was needy himself. Jack had been trying to hold himself aloof and he's really, really bad at that - he needs companionship, he needs sex, he needs someone to share fun with.

As well as the source of his anguish, whatever that is.

...Intriguing.

I would love to read the explicitly Christian dialogue that was cut from Ianto's scenes over the course of S2.

I didn't know about that. I wonder what it was?

[seether-79.livejournal.com]

Another great one :D

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[jo02]

This was lovely!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Delighted that you enjoyed it - thanks for commenting.

[raissad.livejournal.com]

Lovely!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I love it when Jack is being honest.