Achieving Avalon (part 2)

[hopenight]

Title: Achieving Avalon
Author: HopeNight
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, past Arthur/Merlin, past Ianto/Lisa, past Ianto/others, Gwen/Rhys
Ianto Jones/Merlin Emrys, Captain Jack Harkness/Arthur Pendragon, Toshiko Sato, Doctor Owen Harper, Gwen Cooper, Rhys Williams, Morgana la Fey/Lady Morgana Farthing, Great Dragon/Cameron Ashmore, Nimueh/Naomi Smith
Warnings: OOC-ness running rampant, rude language, REALLY AU after Cyberwoman, Jack Harkness in general
Rating: PG-13 possibly light R
Current Word Count: 20,001
Beta(s): scarlet_reader
Summary: Ianto Jones is a perfectly ordinary man with no past and a not so ordinary job. Merlin Emrys on the other hand? He has a trail of mysticism, magic, death, love, and reincarnation following him like a lost puppy. Somehow it’s up to him to put a little magic back into the Torchwood teams lives especially Jack’s. Why? Well because it’s Jack he falls in love with every lifetime and it’s up to the Captain to get his own memories back.
Notes: This was just a weird little chestnut in my head. So yeah I wrote and I enjoyed it. Thanks to my wonderful beta, scarlet_reader.

“A hatchling, that is what you are. A hatchling struggling into the world. I may be younger than you in years, but I am ancient in my thoughts. Do not worry about these things. Find peace in where and what you are. People often know what must be done. All you need to do is show them the way- that is wisdom. As for feats, no army could have given the blessing you did.”-Saphira from Eragon

Ianto had always hated meeting with the dragon. In fifteen centuries, he still could not get anything but a cryptic answer the majority of the time. Ask him and he’ll swear that the rat lizard bastard, who goes by the name Cameron of all things, purposefully gives him cryptic answers just to send him to the loony bin. Who the hell would give anyone a cryptic answer to: “Pass the marmalade, yeah?”

The answer should always remain as such: dragons.

Never share a meal with a dragon unless you want to kill them by the end of the meal. A couple centuries back, Ianto began to suspect that the reason Uther wanted to kill the dragons was not because they were magical but because they would never give a straight fucking answer, even with meals.

It’s common bleeding courtesy!

And yet he still met with the blasted dragon, Cameron, for lunch at least once a week. The lunches seemed to have doubled since his suspension two weeks ago.

Ianto is aware that his social life is pathetic. There’s no real need to point that out anymore.

He stood outside the door of the seafood place contemplating the pathetic mess of his life, before he let out of a sigh and went inside. In the restaurant, he glanced around for his companion. His eyes caught the mop of dirty blonde hair that belonged to Cameron Ashmore. He sighed, steeled himself, and meandered over to the table.

Professor Cameron Ashmore would be classified as a pretty normal if not eccentric guy. A professor of Cardiff University, the Folklore specialist is a respected and beloved member of the staff. Also the overwhelming number of female students in his classes is totally not due to the tall, pale, broad, hazel-eyed, thirty-ish teacher. Not at all (yeah right). If they knew he was an age old dragon disguised as a human…

Well girls found sparkling vampires hot now-a-days why not a dragon?

Ianto tentatively sat down. All the fight seemed to have left him. Cameron glanced up from his menu.

“You are late, Ianto,” stated the professor simply.

“I…ran into my team outside the children’s hospital,” answered the sorcerer with a tired sigh. Cameron raised an eyebrow silently. His hazel eyes never left the menu.

“I still don’t understand the importance of the organization.”

“It’s kind of like what I did with Arthur. Save the world, clean up shit, and go home to take a nap. Except this time I get paid for it and instead of mucking out horse shit its dinosaur. Also I’m generally underappreciated by everyone on my team. Damn…when did my life get so fucked up?”

Cameron opened his mouth to respond. Ianto leaned over the table and hissed.

“I swear by the Old Religion if the next thing out of your mouth is something cryptic about destiny, coins, or anything combination of them. I will kick your scaly ass into the next century.”

The dragon wisely shut his mouth. Ianto turned back to his menu sighing.

“Why can’t he come to me for once? I’m sick of this waiting. I know it’s when the time is right. But…but I miss him so much,” whispered the sorcerer. The professor glanced at Ianto from over the top of his glasses.

“Should I answer that or will I get my ass kicked?” questioned the dragon blandly.

Ianto smirked at him a little, “I know it’s hard for you in your old age but please, please no cryptic answers.”

Cameron rolled his eyes at the comment.

“Everything has its time, Ianto. I know it sucks. You had to go through this for several lifetimes. If you would allow me to be blunt?”

“Go for it.”

“Destiny is just fuckin’ with you, mate. She’s a right bitch. Generally lives that she has control over such as yours and Arthur’s…well she just loves to make things as difficult as possible,” said the dragon as he sipped his water, “I think I’m getting the salmon burger. What about you?”

Ianto was too busy choking on his cola to even answer.

He wished the dragon stuck to cryptic answers.

Ned: You can't touch me.

Chuck: So a kiss is out of the question?

Ned: I just lost my train of thought. – Ned & Chuck ‘Pushing Daisies’ Pie-lette

 

Something that Ianto grew fond of over the years was cleaning. It was a rather therapeutic activity, required repetitive motions, and you really did not need brain power for it. Also it was a great way to kill time for all the immortals with poor cleaning skills out there. Then there’s the magical cleansing which is exactly how it sounds.

 

Ianto as part OCD part powerful sorcerer found a need to cleanse out the energies of his living space once a month or so. Especially after that one incident with the toaster and the microwave got into a fight back in the eighties from a backup of magical energy.

 

But back to the topic at hand; at this point he likened cleansing to scrubbing out the refrigerator. Get all the strange looking furry things that probably started their life out as a packet of blueberries and you won’t worry about your health/sanity for a while.

 

Ianto knew he had to do a cleansing today. He really had nothing to do. The last couple of days happened in a swirl of lunches with Cameron, calls from Torchwood, and trying to find something interesting to read in the local bookshop.

 

Two out of three weren’t driving him insane. Honestly since Harry Potter ended there has been nothing good out.

 

And yes he does take offense to the fact that J.K. Rowling described his balls as ‘saggy’. His balls are anything but saggy thank you very much. Well Arthur and several very beautiful/handsome/famous/obscure people throughout the centuries seem to enjoy his balls.

 

Stupid legends that made him out to be an old loon. Disney did not help much in the department either.

 

He’s not bitter about that in the slightest. …Well alright maybe a little but in his defense some people really need to learn how to take a joke. Honestly vindictiveness did no good on medieval authors.

 

Ianto stood up and began to gather things he would need for cleansing his home. Salt, sage, candles, water were slowly gathered up by attentive and precise hands. He gathered up stones that represented the four elements and proceeded to wash them in a bowl of salt water.

 

He was halfway through with cleansing his air stone, a piece of rose quartz, when there was a knock at the door. He sighed before placing the stone back into the cleansing water.

 

“I’m coming!” shouted Ianto as the knocking grew increasingly louder. With a wave of his hand he undid all the locks and opened the door. He stared in surprise at the person on the other side of the threshold.

 

“Sir? What on Earth are you doing here?”

 

Captain Jack Harkness stood in Ianto’s hallway looking as if he owned the place with a box of pizza.

 

“I was in the neighborhood and thought you would like some pizza.”

 

Ianto stared at the pizza box and briefly wondered if the topping was retcon.

 

“That’s nice? I think, sir. But I’m in the middle of something.”

 

The captain raised an eyebrow, “And that is?”

 

“Cleansing my air stone so that I can keep the flow of magic going in my apartment,” answered Ianto promptly, “Of
course you are welcome to watch, sir.”

 

He still made sure that he blocked entrance into his apartment.

 

Ianto gave himself a mental high five that he still held onto the talent for making a title of superiority sound synonymous with horse shit. He was slightly out of practice because the last time Arthur was reincarnated he worked as a clerk in Ianto’s bookstore at the time. And wasn’t that awkward when he finally remembered…

 

Alright so it was awkward and mildly hilarious.

 

The captain stared at Ianto trying to decide whether to make a sexual comment or not.

 

“You make a sexual comment out of that, sir, and you will be wearing that pizza all over your coat and face. Then you’ll have to pick up your own bloody dry cleaning.”

 

The blue eyed man raised an eyebrow at that. Ianto stared impassively back.

 

“Why, Mister Jones, I never known you to have such a mouth.”

 

Ianto rolled his eyes at the statement. He leaned against the doorframe arms crossed casually.

 

“Give me one good reason as to why you should enter my domicile.”

 

“I’m your boss,” said the Captain as if that alone should grant him entrance. For bloody…did all his reincarnations have to be prats at some time or another?!

 

“Not while I’m on suspension you’re not. Give me a better one,” retorted Ianto as he leaned against the door. He could feel a smirk curl up on his features.

 

“Because…it was wrong of me to talk about Lisa like that the other day,” said Jack quietly, “And I understand what it’s like to be waiting for someone and not knowing if they’ll show up or not.”

 

The sorcerer slowly checked Jack’s aura for truth in what he said. Yep he passed the lie detector test.

 

“That pizza better not be doped with ret-con or I will be one seriously angry amnesiac. And be quiet for twenty minutes or so alright? I was doing a cleansing on my apartment.”

 

“So you’re Wiccan?”

 

“No…Yes…” he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “It’s complicated, Jack. I practice magic and that’s really all you need to know.”

 

And with that Ianto turned from the doorway and began to dry off his air stone. Meanwhile Jack stood in the kitchen watching as Ianto cleansed his home.

 

He wondered how much he really knew about Ianto after all.

 

“Science is a way of talking about the universe in words that bind it to a common reality. Magic is a method of talking to the universe in words that it cannot ignore. The two are rarely compatible.”-Neil Gaiman

 

Ianto got through ten minutes of cleansing his apartment when Jack felt the need to interrupt.

 

“So how long have you been practicing?” asked the Captain sitting on the Welshman’s sofa as if he always been there. He watched as Ianto sprinkled salt water in the doorways and windowsills. He didn’t notice how Ianto’s eyes glowed gold, making sure the area was cleansed.

 

“Since I was around eleven,” answered the sorcerer patiently, “I put down that I practiced witchcraft in my file, sir.”

 

“Oh,” Jack fell silent again, “Why do you practice it?”

 

Ianto gave him what he called Gaius look number four: a raised eyebrow and a look that said ‘you seriously did not just ask me that’. He sighed before sitting down.

 

“Because it’s my faith, Jack. I believe in it and it has been a part of me for a very, very long time.”

 

The Captain nodded, “Was Lisa…?”

 

“Oh heavens no! She believed in a higher power, afterlife and such. She just would shake her head and say whatever made me happy. Lisa…was very understanding like that.”

 

A silence descended between the two of them. Ianto could feel the wall encroach upon them again. Jack was chewing his pizza thoughtfully.

 

“So if you believe in magic…”

 

“How can I use science? Jack I majored in Bio-Chemistry at University in addition to Medieval Literature. I’m a fucking magic practitioner, not against advancement.”

 

“Sorry religion confuses me sometimes,” admitted the Captain. Ianto raised an eyebrow in interest.

 

“No problem, sir. Now if I may ask why are you really here?”

 

“Can’t get anything passed you, huh?”

 

“It’s generally very hard to do that. Only three people can do that and they’re off their bloody rockers anyway,”
answered the tea-boy so monotonously that Jack briefly wondered if it was true or not.

 

“You’re part of the team, Ianto,” said the Captain with summoned confidence. He gave the Welshman his most convincing grin. He was just going to pretend that the hour he spent in his private quarters practicing what he was going to say did not happen. He knew that if he turned on the right level of charm and with the right level of understanding then he and Ianto could work this out.

 

Still the guy had one hell of a right hook and it took Jack’s unnaturally fast healing abilities their sweet time to heal him up nicely. He’d rather not get hit by Ianto again anytime soon.

 

Unless it was for something fun that involved lots of leather, a whip, chocolate sauce, and safe words.

 

“And as part of the team, your team, you feel the need to get to know me,” finished Ianto as if knowing exactly what Jack is going to say. Ianto moved over to the Captain’s place on the couch, leaned in gently and whispered, “You’re going to have to do better than that song and dance, Captain. I’ve heard it too many times before.”

 

His blue eyes are burning so brightly. Jack is suddenly reminded of supernovas exploding, stars shining. He is reminded of his home and its two suns as they shone on the ocean. It’s a sparkling, impassioned sort of intensity that feels like it’s about to eat him up.

 

For some reason with Ianto’s gaze on him like this, he is reminded of something else in the farthest corners of his mind. Grass, tall trees, and Ianto there but at the same time he is not Ianto. He could feel his fingers tug at the grass as Ianto but not Ianto whispered to him in a voice that is Ianto and not him,

 

“You’re going to have do something better than that old trick, sire. I’ve heard it too many times before from so many people and creature. I’ll give you the world, my power, my heart just tell me why you want me. No lies, no games, no trickery just ask me and I promise that it will be yours.”

 

He shook his head to pull himself out of the strange vision. He met those eyes and stared into them before murmuring,

 

“What do you want me to say?”

 

“Whatever comes to your mind, sir. Look in your heart. Contrary to what I might say under extreme emotional situations, I do know that you have one.”

 

Ianto took a bite of the slightly cold pizza. He sighed and stared off. He glanced at Jack with a look of something on his face. It’s an emotion that Jack can’t quite identify. Sorrow mixed with melancholy perhaps with a dash of hope and something so close to love that it simply stopped his heart for a moment.

 

“Maybe I should try this tomorrow,” said the captain, “I really suck at this.”

 

“At what, sir?”asked Ianto plainly.

 

“Apologizing,” he answered immediately, “Ianto I should have made an effort. A real effort to get to know you. I’m sorry that I didn’t.”

 

“See now there’s a start, Captain,” said Ianto. His face was close to Jack’s. The Captain can smell Ianto’s shampoo and aftershave of burnt spices. Blue eyes shone wickedly with a hint of sorrow. Jack stared into Ianto’s eyes and wondered if that flash of gold was a trick of light. Suddenly he was back in that hazy forest with Ianto that was not Ianto feeling like he owned the world.

 

“I should go. I have to man the Hub,” said Jack quickly. Ianto moved out of his way with a deft step.

 

“Oh and sir?”

 

The immortal turned and gazed at Ianto, who was smiling softly.

 

“Magic is what I make of it. It’s where I find peace,” he paused for a moment seeming to be far away and so very close at the same time, “…Everyone deserves a little bit of magic in their lives, even you. I hope you’ll let me show you how to look for it one day. When I am not as mad, when both of us forgive the other for their transgressions.”

 

The moment of silence that passed between them spoke of whispered promises, of tomorrows, of beginnings to Ianto at least. All Jack heard was silence but in the silence he heard faint sounds of hoof beats, of battles, and of ancient tongues that spoke of magic. However, it was so far fuzzy and distant that it barely registered.

 

Jack glanced over his should at the Torchwood archivist.

 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Ianto.”

 

“Looking forward to it, sir,” murmured Ianto with a small smile on his face.

 

Forgiveness is love in its most noble form. –Anon.

 

Ianto sighed staring at a black and white photo. It was taken in the late forties. Back when he still looked like Merlin and Arthur was in a cycle where he uncannily looked like himself. He gently fingered the photo for a moment.

 

He could never truly hate Arthur. If Arthur is a part of Jack then he could never hold Lisa’s death against him.

 

But by the Old Religion he wanted to. He wanted to make Jack suffer. He wanted to kill the Captain over and over again. Until he could feel the hate leave his body.

Here’s the conundrum though.

 

He had to love Jack because he was also Arthur.

 

Merlin could never hate Arthur; even though Ianto wanted to burn with hatred for Jack Harkness. The immortal rubbed his temples.

 

Life really sucked sometimes. Immortality could be torturous in moments such as these.

 

Maybe he was being too selfish. Maybe he when he saw Gwen, Lisa, reborn after centuries of last seeing her. He thought that this would be it. That Lancelot would be reborn.

 

That they could finally, finally put an end to this and Merlin could take a long blessed rest.

 

He really should have known better. He missed his friendship with both Gwen and Lisa. In some way, he loved her because she was Gwen. Gwen was beloved by all who knew her in every single life that she had lived. She was bold, brilliant, and always brimming with life.

 

He missed that so much. He was sickened by how weak he seemed to have become over the years.

 

Maybe he was selfish. Perhaps it was not meant to be where one day the duty of King Arthur will end. He was waiting for the day where he could finally go with Arthur into the gentle blackness to the light of Avalon. Maybe it was wrong to want all of them together again.

 

Perhaps that just wasn’t his destiny.

 

His destiny was to protect Arthur in all his incarnations. That included Captain Jack Harkness.

 

So maybe he could not have the future where he could follow him. He had him now and Ianto had to at least like Jack.

 

Ianto gently fingered the curve of the photos cheek. He could feel Arthur’s lips pressed against his skin. Those lips that made him quiver with love and lust.

 

He rested his head on top of his knees and began to cry. He cried for all of those that he missed with all his heart. He cried for his mortality.

 

Mostly he just cried for Arthur and how he ached for familiarity to be shown to him in the Captain’s eyes.

 

And with those tears, Ianto found the strength to allow a small flame of love for the Captain to light up in his heart.

 

He had already forgiven him. It just took time for his head to catch up with his heart.

 

Politics and Religion are obsolete. The time has come for Science and Spirituality.-Unknown

 

Toshiko Sato is a woman of science. She loved facts, figures, and algorithms like some people love daydreaming. Even as a child she messed around with chemistry sets rather than dolls. She loved Einstein like some girls loved Prince Charming. She had no time for fairy tales, magic, or anything of the like.

 

When she met Ianto Jones she thought she had met a kindred spirit. He was logical, brilliant, and had a vast wealth of knowledge of the inner workings of computers. Plus she knew he had a Bio-chem degree and you had to firmly be in the logical set of thinking for that.

 

Then that thing with Lisa happened and Tosh with all her logic, facts, and rational mindedness could not figure it out. She kept thinking on what Ianto said when they ran into him at the children’s hospital.

 

Loving someone that much? Or how did Ianto put it? Finding understanding? She sighed and quietly stared back at the glowing screen. She did what she did for her mother because she was blood, family…

 

Oh…

 

She was all that Tosh had left. Maybe…maybe Ianto didn’t have anyone left either. Lisa was probably it for him. He probably needed a friend right now as well.

 

She wasn’t a very good one was she?

 

Toshiko Sato is the type of woman who admits when she made a mistake. Then she always will try to rectify it. Well nine times out of ten, UNIT can still kiss her ass and go to hell.

 

But she understood Ianto’s motives. She knew that nearly losing someone that you love is not on anyone’s list, especially when you are practically alone in the world.

 

Discreetly as she could, the computer tech scrounged up Ianto’s address. It was nearly lunch time and she had an apology to give.

 

“A friend loves at all times, and kinsfolk are born to share adversity.” –The Bible, Proverbs 27:6

 

To be honest Tosh really wasn’t sure what to expect of Ianto’s apartment building. She was pleasantly surprised when she saw a rather quaint place. There appeared to be a small park near it, beautifully in bloomed. She smiled a little before entering the building and going up to Ianto’s floor.

 

She stood outside the door debating whether or not to knock. She had come this far. The computer tech raised her hand to knock on the door when it opened.

 

Ianto stood on the threshold with surprise in his eyes. His face was a mixture of bemusement and surprise. He was
dressed in a blue t-shirt with a pair of loose black jeans. His feet were adorned with a pair of…dragon slippers.

 

It was a little bit funny but they were rather cute. Tosh made a note to never tell Owen about this though. Ianto would never live it down.

 

“Tosh? What a surprise! Come in please,” Ianto stepped aside to allow her access to the apartment.

 

“I don’t want to intrude,” began Tosh shyly.

 

“Nonsense I was only planning on running down to see if my post has come. You’re the first bit of human contact I’ve
had all day.”

 

Tosh quietly stepped into the flat. Curious, she glanced around taking in the calm blue of the walls, the bright open space, and the varying odd knick knacks that adorned the walls. She also took notice of the huge piles of books and plants bathing happily in the sunlight.

 

“So why are you here? I thought the Captain said no contact with me besides the daily call to see if I’m still alive.”

 

“I…I needed to see you, Ianto.”

 

The tea-boy stared at her for a moment before nodding. He padded around the kitchen.

 

“Why don’t you make yourself at home, Tosh? I’ll make some coffee. Would you like a sandwich?”

 

“Some food sounds nice and so does your coffee. Thank you, Ianto.”

 

She smiled before quietly taking a place on the couch. A few minutes later, Ianto came back with a tray of lunch and coffee. Tosh gratefully took the mug offered to her.

 

“So why are you here, Tosh?”

 

“I came to apologize to you.”

 

“To me? Tosh I should be the one apologizing…”

 

She held her hand up to stop him from speaking further. Her gaze determined.

 

“Ianto, I should have noticed something. I should have appreciated you more. There are a lot of things that I should
have done. Because I was once in your position. My mother was kidnapped and I had to build a device for her safe return. I didn’t consider how this would affect myself all I wanted was her safe.”

 

“Oh…Toshiko,” said Ianto softly. He reached over and gently took her small hand into his. She gave him a watery smile.

 

“You didn’t need to apologize to me, Tosh.”

 

“I wanted to, Ianto.”

 

“Well apology accepted if you take my own also?”

 

“Of course!” the woman said brightly. Her eyes shone with happiness until she caught a glance at his wrist, “Is that a
tattoo?”

Ianto blushed and coughed slightly embarrassed. Inside his right wrist was a pentagram. He met up with that bloody dragon sometime in the nineteen sixties…and well you know that era. You take a puff of a bloody joint and next thing you know you’re getting tattooed by some bloke named ‘Headbuster’.

 

He’s beginning to think that ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ was Cameron’s nickname during that era. It really wouldn’t surprise him.

 

“Yes it is. I erm got it after a night of too much partying in college. At least I was coherent enough to choose something I liked. See…I’m a practitioner of magic.”

 

A delicate raise of the eyebrow and lips shaped in an ‘O’ was all he got from the computer tech. He sighed for moment.

 

“No one reads the employee files do they?” asked Ianto with his usual deadpanned tone.

 

“Not really,” said Tosh with a small smile, “I just didn’t figure you…”

 

Ianto smiled lightly, “No one does. I hope that this won’t be a problem.”

 

“No! I mean no not at all. My mother raised me to be to respectful of other religions. Besides it would be unfair to judge you even if I go by pure rationale.”

 

The tea-boy blinked and threw his head back laughing brightly. His eyes twinkled with peace and good humor. It made for a rather striking picture. Even if Ianto’s eyes were a little bit sad.

 

The two moved away from sad topics onto happier ones. Tosh told Ianto about her suspicions of Gwen and Owen, how Owen has to muck out Myfanwy’s nest now, and various other humorous anecdotes that happened now that everyone was deprived of good coffee. Ianto told her about his lunchtime meetings with Cameron (editing out the whole dragon thing), the children at the hospital, and how he decided to learn sleight of hand and sign language in his acquirement of free time.

 

He neglected to tell her the part of Jack’s visit the night before. She neglected to tell him how seeing sexual tension between Gwen and Owen sort of killed her in the irrational part of her brain.

 

They were friends but not best friends yet.

If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it; that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die. —
That strain again; it had a dying fall:
O, it came oer my ear, like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing, and giving odour! Enough! No more.
'Tis not so sweet now as it was before. -Orisno The Twelfth Night

 

Ianto was reading Twelfth Night for quite possibly the millionth time when Jack came later that night. This was partly due to the fact that he loved the play. He remembered seeing it at the Globe with a friend who did costumes. He also remembered a rather hilarious incident where the twins cast to play Viola and Sebastian had a coin tossing match in order to figure out who would play what role that night. It nearly broke out into a fight of epic proportions.

 

Well then he met Will Shakespeare himself. After a couple months there was a rather passionate affair between the two. Yes, he was the fair youth mentioned by Will in one of his sonnets. When he read it he nearly strangled the brilliant moron.

 

While the playwright loved his children, he tolerated his wife and was a notorious flirt to both genders. He thinks that Will and Jack would get along well. Except Jack does it with tentacle aliens also.

 

Ianto sat there reading his book when the Captain began pounding on the door. He sighed and marked the page before getting up to answer the door.

 

The sorcerer opened the door and put on his best ‘Are you an Idiot?’ face with patented ‘Gaius eyebrow raise number eleven™’.

 

“Are you trying to cave in my door, sir? Or perhaps the world is ending and you desperately need a quick shag and mind fucking good cup of coffee.”

 

To the Captain’s credit, he did look suitably sheepish. Again to his credit, he was happy he said option two with a straight face and dry tone. Honestly if the world was ending he wasn’t going to have sex that was just too blasé. Come on every single time there is a believed apocalypse births skyrocket nine months later. Besides he’s an old man if things came down to it and the world was going to blow up in a half an hour. He would be at the bar with the dragon, the bitch priestess (also known as Nimueh), and Morgana knocking back tequila sunrises, jell-o shots, and margaritas. Then proceed to have drunken, wild sex with Jack if he remembered at that point.

 

The end of the world should be getting drunk of your ass with a psycho priestess, a cryptic dragon, and a friend seer.

This should be followed by hot, sweaty, drunk man-sex on the bar.

 

Ianto kept the expression firmly on his face as Jack walked in. He saw the Captain appraise his slippers.

 

“So how can I help you this lovely night, sir?”

 

“I have a problem,” began the Captain tentatively.

 

“Oh I’m so sorry. What seems to be the problem?” he was walking into a trap.

 

At the same time he was curious on how this would turn out. Also for some strange reason that tiny voice in the back of his head, which after all these years still sounded scarily like Gaius, reminded him that the last time he was led into a conversation like this it ended up with him handcuffed to a bed while people tried to transplant a demon lord into his soul.

 

Oh the nineteen seventies…what a decade.

 

“Well you see,” the Captain began interrupting Ianto’s thoughts on demonic cults, “there’s this guy.”

 

“There’s always a guy,” said the tea-boy as he fished out a bottle of water.

 

“And I really need to apologize to him for being a…”

 

“Dick?” supplied Ianto helpfully, “Ass? Douche? Shit Sandwich?”

 

Jack looked up confused for a moment at the ‘Shit Sandwich’.

 

“Movie.”

 

“Ah.”

 

Jack paused to regain his train of thought.

 

“So basically I’ve been all the above to this guy. I really would like to apologize but I don’t know how. I tried the night
before with some lame apology. And…?”

 

He looked so pathetic right now that it was just sad. The sorcerer cursed his soft heart and rolled his eyes.

 

“I forgive you, sir. Now please stop with the puppy eyes. They don’t suit you.”

 

A grateful look passed over the Captain’s face. Then his blue eyes shone with a playful light for the first time in a long time. Ianto knew he wasn’t forgiven yet but he was close enough.

 

“Mister Jones I think you wounded my ego.”

 

“You’re ego doesn’t need to be stroked anymore than be gently beaten with a hatchet.”

 

“That’s supposed to make me feel better how?”

 

“Owen’s has been upgraded to chased and killed by a horde of crazed, mass murders with incontinence.”

 

“That sounds unpleasant.”

 

“I believe it’s supposed to be. Hence the reason why Owen has it,” stated Ianto as if it was the most obvious thing in
the world. He smiled a little at the banter taken back to many a past life with the reincarnated king.

 

Jack on the other hand knew that the conversation felt familiar but couldn’t exactly say how. All he could say that this easy banter he always seemed to have with Ianto. This forgiveness in his heart for the archivist should not be so easy to present…but it is.

 

It scared the Captain that one man could turn his world upside down. It terrified him at the familiarity of it all. He looked at Ianto standing there young and beautiful with the most heart breaking blue eyes ever.

 

He stared ahead for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts. Ianto flittered at the edge of his vision for a few
moments.

 

“I want you at work tomorrow, Ianto.”

 

The tea-boy blinked up at him for a moment before nodding.

 

“Alright, sir.”