It's written in the stars

[zazajb]

Title: It’s written in the stars...
Author: zazajb
Rating: R, adult concepts, occasional language, M/M
Pairings/Characters: Jack/Ianto, team
Spoilers – none, set mid S2
Summary:   Words  2100

Fic masterlist: http://zazajb.livejournal.com/6286.html

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters – anything you recognise is owned by RTD & BBC

X-posted Jantolution , jackxianto & TW_classic , tw_proper, ijs, jantosparkle[apologies to those getting this multiple times]

A/N Written for the redisourcolor  challenge #13 - Theme: Fate/destiny; doff, dexterous, escalator ‘If you look closely you’ll be able to see a pattern’

A/N1 I think it’s safe to say the fluff bunnies are firmly in control at the moment!

 

It’s written in the stars

Jack wrapped his coat more closely around their naked bodies as Ianto lay back against him and they gazed up at the black velvet sky, the stars sparkling like diamonds...

“You know, if you look closely, you’ll be able to see a pattern...” Jack breathed against his Welshman’s ear.

“Constellations..?”

“Nah, I don’t mean constellations...look...” Jack slid his hand over Ianto’s, slipping his fingers into the gaps between the young man’s own and lifted their joined hands to point up at the sky. “Start at that big red one and join the dots...ready?”

Ianto turned his head to brush their lips together before settling back, “...ready..!”

Jack began tracing the letters, his heart thudding nervously in his chest – he’d planned so many different ways, so many times, how he was going to do this and each time he’d bottled it. Now, fresh from loving his gorgeous Welshman and snuggled together in the heavy warmth of his coat as they soaked up the fragrance of the warm night air, he knew that this was the right time...

He finished the first word and dotted the ‘i’, moving on to the next word...and the next...and the last. He felt Ianto tense as he added the question mark and dropped their joined hands back to their sides. He held his breath.

Ianto continued to stare up at the sky, his mouth moving silently, repeating the words... He scrambled up onto his knees and turned to face his Captain, a shy smile curving the corners of his mouth as he met the anxious gaze of the man he loved with every fibre of his being...

“Yes!” he said simply “yesyesyes...” as he wrapped his arms around Jack’s neck and crushed their mouths together, passion, love and desire merging as they fell back against the heather...

The bleating from Jack’s wristband dragged them back to earth from a succession of heady kisses that had them floating amongst the stars above them. Lust blown eyes met and rueful smiles were exchanged as they tugged on their clothes and prepared to chase down whatever alien had decided to threaten their beloved city.

Ianto smoothed the heavy wool over his Captain’s shoulders, the familiar and intimate action bringing soft smiles to their faces before both men focused on the readings from the rift alert. “Shopping centre...several signals...” Jack held his hand out, grinning as Ianto took it, entwining their fingers, “ready..?”

“Yep...let’s go save the world one more time...”

They set off across the field towards the SUV at a brisk pace. Within minutes they were speeding towards the shopping centre, Jack’s enthusiastic driving leaving Ianto braced against the door frame as he checked the readings on the hand held scanner from the glove box. He groaned.

Jack glanced across anxiously “...what is it?”

“Graske”

“Shit!” he put his foot down and the car surged forward, “why do those pesky alien pixies like this place so much?”

They pulled up outside the shopping centre and Jack used their universal passkey to open the door. The first sight that met their eyes was the two security guards tied up and gagged in what looked like every reel of ribbon ever made. It was colourful, if rather uncomfortable, and Jack was tempted to snap a quick photo, chuckling at Ianto’s quiet “don’t you dare Jack!” How well the other man knew him!

Ianto tossed the scanner at his Captain “I’ll sort this out, you go find our visitors...”   

Moving to the security desk, Ianto’s dexterous fingers made quick work of the guard’s gags and set about sawing through the multitude of knots that held the two men captive to their chairs and each other. Finally free of their bonds they drank the water Ianto gave them gratefully whilst regaling him with the tale of their capture by an army of tiny creatures with ‘court jester’ heads and pointed teeth...

Ianto sympathised and soothed, pressing his comm. unit “Jack...seems like we have a party on our hands...”

“Yeah, I’m seeing multiple groups...better call the team in...”

Groping in his pocket for his phone, the Welshman smiled reassuringly at the two security guards as their eyes began to close. Moments later their quiet snores announced another retcon success. Ianto moved away from the desk and dumped the bag of shredded and tangled ribbon into a bin as he explained the call to a sleepy Tosh, knowing from the acerbic swearing beside her that he had one less phone call to make. Grinning he hung up and dialled Gwen, apologising to Rhys for the disturbance when he answered the phone.

“Team’s on their way in – Owen was at Tosh’s again...two Sleeping Beauty lookalikes at the front desk...where are you?”

“Upper level...there’s a large group in the Candy Box pick-n-mix at the far end and downstairs there’s another group in The Early Learning Centre – they all seem to be relatively well behaved considering what they are...the group I’ve been chasing are now in the Hair and Nail Palace and they’re wrecking it from what I can hear...I’m just going in...”

“Be careful...I’ll be there in a minute...I’ll get the others to go after the sweet and toy shop groups...”

“Good – and watch out, there’s still a few random signals scattered about...”

Setting off at a run Ianto disconnected from Jack and called the team, giving details of the groups and their locations. He was sprinting up the silent ‘down’ escalator, heading towards Jack’s location when a Graske jumped out at the top in front of him blocking his path, another high pitched giggle told him there was at least one other out of sight... Suddenly the escalator began moving, the jolt knocking him off balance to send him tumbling backwards, over and over... Reflex action curled him into a ball to protect his face from the sharp edges of the moving stairs until he crashed in a heap, smacking a glancing blow at the bottom that made him see stars – and these were most definitely not the pleasurable ones from earlier...

The Machiavellian pixies giggled loudly and bandy-legged themselves away to cause trouble elsewhere. Ianto groaned and lay where he was as he blinked dazedly. A battered arm dragged itself of its own volition to press his comm. unit. “Jack...” he croaked painfully, attempting to assess the damage to his limbs and accepting ruefully that his favourite Blue Gillespie hoodie was a write-off and his designer ripped jeans were now a tad more ripped...

“Ianto..? Where are you? These blasted Graske are...stop that...put it down...little shit..!” Several more choice expletives followed in a variety of languages and the sound of crashing china and the familiar grating high pitch giggle could be heard above Jack’s panting. “Ianto..?” this time, the concern was evident in the Captain’s voice, “what’s happened...are you okay? This lot have escaped out the back to Lord knows where...this place is trashed...” he sighed heavily, “Yan..?”

“I’m o...not permanently damaged...” he amended, “...they started the escalator and caught me off balance so I went down it backwards...no broken bones – just complete loss of dignity...no change there..!” he quipped heavily, pushing himself slowly to his feet and dabbing his handkerchief to the cut above his eye that was dripping blood irritatingly down his face.

“I’m coming down...” Jack could be heard thudding along the walkway above him, pounding down the still moving escalator to land in front of his precious Welshman. He tugged him into his arms and hugged him tightly, causing the young man to let out a howl of pain. Jack released him immediately. “Where does it hurt? Where’s Owen, he should be here by now...you could’ve died...“his panic was palpable, “I can’t lose you, Ianto...”

“I’ll live, Jack, I’m just a bit battered – certainly not ready to doff my hat to the Grim Reaper just yet a while...” he cupped the older man’s face and kissed him lightly, “...you’re stuck with me a bit longer...

Now mindful of his injuries, Jack folded Ianto back into his arms and kissed him hard, relief and passion colliding as tongues embraced and fingers threaded through hair... They were resting their foreheads together, panting softly when the team ran in to join them.

“Oi, put the bloody tea boy down...you’ve dragged me out of my bed...”

“Tosh’s bed I believe that was...” Ianto cut in mildly, moving regretfully out of the comforting warmth of Jack’s arms to the gasps of horror from the others as they took in his damaged appearance.

“Fuck! What happened to you..?” Owen was by his side in an instant, acerbic comments forgotten as he checked the Welshman over while Jack filled them in on the situation – basically what seemed like the entire Graske population was having a happy rampage through the shopping centre...

Ianto nodded or shook his head in response to the medic’s questions, submitting without protest to the butterfly sutures that were applied to the cut above his eye. They joined the others to find Jack grinning widely, his arm around Tosh’s shoulders as he dipped his head to kiss her gently on the cheek.

“Oi, that’s my girlfriend you’re handling...you’ve got your tea boy...” Owen blurted out loudly, causing a pretty blush to spread over Tosh’s face as all eyes turned towards her. “Oh, sorry Tosh!” Owen grinned apologetically and moved to her side.

Gwen giggled, “...we all know anyway...and your brilliant girlfriend has got us a way to get rid of these pesky Graske...tell him Tosh...”

“Ultra sonic soundwave...upsets the balance of their tri-horns...get ready to cover your ears, but be prepared to feel disorientated...” She turned the dial on the device in her hand and the air shook as sound waves powered outwards. Within moments hoards of Graske ran from shops in all directions to gather on the lower level before they vanished in a crack of light.

Tosh turned the device off and they shook their heads, grimacing as the sound continued to pound in their heads for several minutes. “What’re we doing about all the mess...we’ll be here till this time tomorrow if we’ve got to clear it up!”

Ianto put his hand on Jack’s arm, “I’ve got that covered...back in a couple of minutes...” he strode away towards the security desk.

Jack grinned, “Okay, thanks for tonight, now get yourselves home and don’t come in ‘till midday...I think we’re all going to sleep in after this...”

Owen glanced at Ianto’s retreating back “...will he be okay after his tumble down the stairs?”

“I promise to check him over thoroughly...”

“Head to toe?”

“Promise!”

“I don’t want to know!” Owen chuckled and held his hand out to Tosh who took it, smiling. Jack offered his arm to Gwen and they sauntered after Ianto, waiting by the door until he rejoined them, smiling broadly.

“I told them that when they woke they were to call the police immediately as they’d chased a gang of vandals from the centre, all wearing hoods or masks so nothing to identify them...and I’ve erased the CCTV footage...” He looked at Jack, “can we go now ‘cos I ache like hell!”

They headed to their respective cars. As Ianto slid gingerly into the passenger seat, Jack grinned at him. “I promised Owen I’d check you over...”

“You will?”

“Uh ha...head to toe...”

“No time like the present...”

Jack put his foot down and minutes later they were walking hand in hand back across the field...

Ianto slumped breathlessly against Jack’s sweat slicked body, the night air chasing trails of goose bumps over their skin. Urging his Welshman back into the cocooning warmth of the coat, Jack pressed gentle kisses to the side of the young man’s neck. “Right hand pocket...” he whispered, unable to stop the huge grin that spread over his face as Ianto’s hand delved into the pocket and pulled out the tiny velvet box...

The young man’s eyes widened as he opened it to reveal two simple matching platinum bands. Slipping the rings on to each other’s fingers they kissed tenderly. “Love you, Ianto Jones...”

“Love you too, Jack...always...it’s written in the stars...” As the night faded into day, two men snuggled into a 1940s greatcoat and planned their future...

End