#ianto did actually die and jack will never get to see him again

[carriagelamp]

Since it’s Pride Month, I decided this year I wanted to raid the library for a bunch of different queer books to read. Mostly graphic novels in this case, because I’ve had a hard time settling into much reading lately... thought hopefully now that it’s summer and I finally have my second shot I’ll be able to relax a bit more and dig into some heavier novels again. For now, enjoy some light, queer reads that I indulged in this June.

A Wolf Called Wander

A beautiful novel I had been hearing lots about. This story follows the young wolf Swift, who grows up knowing that he and his pack are the mountains, and the mountains are them. It’s in those mountains that he grows and learns and loves… until disaster strikes and he finds himself viciously torn apart from his family and forced out of the mountains that have always meant home to him. Forced to survive on his own. Swift then begins a gruelling journey that makes him face injury, starvation, and the everpresent danger of humans as he seeks a new place he can call home, and new people with whom he can form a pack.

This is all based on the true story of a tagged wolf known as OR-7, following the unbelievable route he took through Oregon and northern California! It was a very neat read, and I’d definitely recommend it if you enjoy stories told from an animal’s perspective because this book is a master class in it.

Bloom

I decided for June to try to read a handful of different queer books, and this was one of the first graphic novels I picked up. It is a super sweet story and the art is lovely. It’s about Ari, a boy who has just graduated high school and is now desperate to move away from his small town and his family’s struggling bakery, to join his band in the city where they hope to make it big. An agreement is finally reached: Ari’s father will let him leave, if he can find someone who can replace him in the bakery, which is how Ari meets Hector, someone who sees artistry and peace in baking. For anyone that’s read Check, Please, it gives off those types of vibes!

Boule et Bill: Bill est Maboul

Another book of Dupuis comics, because I can’t get enough of them! This one I just stumbled across and ended up reading on a whim but it was very cute. Geared younger than the others I’ve read, but still quite funny. It’s the charming hijinks of a young boy, his dog, and the family they live with. Each page or so is a different stand alone joke, a bit like Calvin and Hobbes except expanded beyond a single strip.

Chicken Run: Chicken Pies for the Soul

This was a ridiculous urge I got and had to follow. I recently rewatched Chicken Run (which is, of course, one of the best movies ever made) and felt the need to see if it had ever been novelized. Well, I found something better than a novelization! This is a chapter book with “advice” and stories written by the various characters, post-movie. It really does a good job with grasping the different characters’ voices and making something simple and funny out of it. It was very cute (and available on The Internet Archive if anyone else feels like reading something ridiculous!)

Doodleville

I picked this up on a whim and honestly, I shouldn’t have bothered. It was not very impressive. Very mediocre, awkward feeling artwork, and a story that only slightly manages to redeem it. The concept was kind of neat, and I did like how the ending came about, the rest was rather… plodding. I did not like the main character at all, her friends felt very Intentionally Quirky Aren’t We Cute :3 in a way that just tries too hard, and… yeah. Meh. It technically gets the “queer graphic novel flag” but it’s so in-passing that it feels rather excessive to give it that.

If you are interested, it’s about a world were doodles actually exist as living creatures that can be drawn into existence (the rather unsettling implications of which is never fully explored). This is all well and good, until the main character draws a monster and takes it with her to her art club... where it begins ravanging not only her doodles, but those of her friends. Together they need to work together to figure out how to stop this menace.

FRNCK v4

Phenomenal. I adore the FRNCK series, and book four wrapped up the first “cycle”, revealing several of the big secrets dogging the series so far, and changing how things are going to be able to run in the future.

If you haven’t seen me talk about it before, FRNCK is a graphic novel (a franco-belgian bande dessinée) about a young orphan, Franck, who’s chafing under the constant parade of uninterested foster parents that visit the orphanage he lives in. Determined to learn about his mysterious abandonment instead, he flees the orphanage… but finds himself tumbling through time, landing among a family of cave-people who rather reluctantly take him in and ensure this modern boy doesn’t die in the strange, dangerous new surroundings he finds himself in. You can get these ones in English as e-books, so if you want a really kickass graphic novel series to read please try these.

Haikyu!!

I’ve heard so much about Haikyu!! that I finally gave in and picked up the first book from the library. And I gotta say, it’s well worth the hype! This series really does capture the best parts of a good sports manga -- which is to say the team is filled with interesting, enjoyable character who all need to learn to pull together, boost each other’s strengths, and cover for each other’s weaknesses. Love me some found family tropes and this series oozes it in the best possible way. And then you also get some very cool action scenes as it makes high school volleyball seem like the most intense thing on earth. I can’t wait to continue it

Queer Eye

I haven’t been keeping up with Queer Eye but I was watching it ravenously when it first came out, and this seemed like a very cathartic book to read… and it really was. It had the same gentle, loving encouragement as the show. It doesn’t expect you to change your entire life, but to learn to embrace who you are, and take small steps to enhance those things. There a segment written (presumably) by each member of the Fab Five, explaining the mentality behind what they do on the show and how you can grow in those areas too. It’s very zen.

Spinning

I got this graphic novel out at the same time as Bloom, but it was the one that interested me less of the two... though that’s just because I have less interest in “real world” slice of life as a genre and this one is meant to be autobiographical. If you’re into that, you’ll probably love this because it really is stunning. Very pretty, and the format and pacing is all really well done. It’s a coming of age story for Tillie as she grows up dealing with a crosscountry move, complicated friendships, a burgeoning attraction to girls, and attending competitive figure skating classes.

This Place: 150 Years Retold

A stunning and heart-wrenching graphic novel told by a collection of different First Nation’s authors/artists, recounting oral histories about the 150 years since the colonialist formation of the country known as “Canada”. In other words, this is a post-apocalypse story, but one that really happened and that entire peoples are still fighting to survive. It’s very eye opening and beautifully told. Very strongly recommend the read, especially if you’re at all interested in history.

Torchwood: Serenity

Whoops, not technically a book. I had thought these were technically audiobooks at first, but rather they’re audio dramas that were played on the radio. Still, I decided to include one because I’ve been listening to them like a person possessed and they’re too fun not to at least mention. Let me indulge in my obsessions.

If you don’t know Torchwood, it’s a BBC series that spins-off from Doctor Who, focusing on the enigmatic and flirtatious Captain Jack Harkness, who is running the covert organization known as Torchwood, which is tasked to protect humanity from and prepare them for alien contact. It’s goofy and campy but also more adult and heavy than Doctor Who tends to get, so it is (in my opinion) a really fascinating series. Though it also has content warnings coming out the wazoo so maybe make sure it’s for you before delving in.

Serenity specifically is possibly one of the best Torchwood stories I’ve ever experienced. The Torchwood team concludes that there’s an undercover alien hiding in the idyllic gated community Serenity Plaza, and so that means it’s up to Jack and Ianto to go undercover as a happily married couple and flush out the alien without being discovered first. Even if it means being sickly sweet together, pretending to care about the local neighbourhood barbecues, and actually caring a bit too much about the Best Front Lawn competition. What is truly magical about this one, is that it manages to make it a Fake Dating AU despite the fact that Jack and Ianto are actually dating in canon. But they’re both used to dating as a pair of alien hunters with insanely dysfunctional lives, and who now need to figure out how to deal with domesticity. It is marvellous.

Wilderlore: The Accidental Apprentice

A middle grade novel that felt a bit like a cross between Harry Potter and Pokemon. It’s about orphan Barclay Thorne who wants nothing more than to be accepted in the rule-bound village of Dullshire, and live up to his apprenticeship as a mushroom farmer. He certainly wants nothing to do with the fearsome Beasts who live beyond the village, deep in the Woods or the sinister Lorekeepers that bond with them. It was, after all, a Beast that had killed his parents all those years ago. But when he finds himself at the very edge of the forest, hunting for an elusive mushroom, he is suddenly unable to avoid any of that. Not when a wild girl and her bonded dragon appear to summon a horrible Beast and end up getting Barclay bonded to it instead. Now, if Barclay ever wants to be welcomed back into his home, he has no choice but to venture into the Woods and find a way to sever the bond imprisoning him to the massive, monstrous wolf now imprinted on his body as a living tattoo.

I honestly can’t decide how I felt about this one. I feel like it’d be a really fun read for maybe a grade 5 to 7 student? I was a bit more meh about it. It was fine, but it was very hard not to draw unfavourable parallels to Harry Potter. But for a kid who’s never read Harry Potter? Or even an adult that has but is looking for something different to scratch that itch, this might be a good book to try. I’ll probably try reading the second book when it comes out.

#book review #book reviews #canlit #canadian literature #queer lit #queer books #pride month #wilderlore #torchwood serenity #this place: 150 years retold #cbc #spinning #tillie walden #amanda foody #queer eye #haikyu #haikyuu!! #furudate haruichi #frnck #dupuis #boule et bill #chicken run #bloom #kevin panetta #a wolf called wander #rosanne parry

[feelitstillmp3]

i was going to dump this into @time-and-space​‘s inbox, but then it spiraled out of control and became super long. so im making it into a post. heres some thinking abt doctor who/torchwood/class/merlin parallels ! (specifically abt the parallels between tenrose/janto/charlie x matteusz/merthur) (keep in mind that my knowledge on merlin is not so good) (also feel free to correct me if im wrong or add anything on) (also this contains spoilers for ... all the shows. pls watch them, theyre good)

ive been thinking about the whole theme between charlie and matteusz where theyre like ?? scared to lose each other ?? and how it totally parallels to the other things like .... we have one character whos different and immortal and alien (not to mention the trauma they've been through-), but another who is supposedly "normal" and human. so, they work with it right ?

but then theres the ever-present danger of what they have to go through daily, and the fear that its going to leave them alone. i mean, they've already been left alone, but now that they've actually fallen in love, its different. its harder now.

consider the following lines:

"i think of it every day, and the only thing that stops me is you." (class, e6) 

"i take it all back, but not him!"(torchwood, s3e4) (theres probably a better quote but no think, head empty)

"i could save everyone, but lose you." (doctor who, uhhh idk but i swear the doctor said something like it at some point, pls correct me if im wrong)

and yes, theyve felt this before, the pain of their entire race being wiped out, no one left but them, and everyone seems to leave them in the end. but for one second, they stop and actually think they have a chance for a while. someone who might stay.

ALSO it works as like .... the normal person is scared of the other, scared of what they can do and how they are ....

consider the following lines:

"im afraid of who you are, of what you're capable of, of what you will do" (class e6)

"you like to think you're a hero, but you're the biggest monster of all." (s1e4)

"what about you, doctor? what the hell are you changing into?" (doctor who, s1e6)

the person who has been through so much is capable of doing so many things, and sometimes it scares the other one. but they witnessed genocide ! and theyre probably traumatized over it ! theyve probably done some terrible shit as a result of it ! both of them are so valid in being that way.

and another parallel i have just thought of, mentioned a lot already, but the recurring theme of killing off an entire race and how that affected the alien character ....

consider the following situations:

doctor who - the time war, in which the doctor participated, and eventually ended. // when 9 was planning to kill off the last of the daleks in the parting of ways, hesitating for a bit, knowing that it would end up destroying earth in the process, making them no better than what the daleks are

torchwood - jack's planet and how it got invaded, how his parents died as a result and why his brother did everything that happened in exit wounds. // ummm i think maybe how willingly jack was able to give the girl up to the fairies to save the human race, like hes seen what the fairies are capable of, hes seen what disasters mass murder can bring. he doesnt want to see it again. 

class - well, the shadowkin invasion, both on rhodia and when it happens on earth (both times) but also the invasion with the flowers ? // how much he really wants to just kill the shadowkin like ! he even mentioned it once ("i want to murder the shadowkin. every last one ...." e6) and he just wants to do it out of revenge. but “we shouldnt avenge genocide with genocide” (we're not going to talk abt how the only thing stopping him is that he would lose matteusz in the process)

but yeah ! theyve seen first hand what it like, and when prompted to do the same thing themselves, they end up hesitating, eventually choosing the other option instead. (well... except charlie. he does it once at least.) 

and finally, immortality. this ties in a lot w my first point abt losing the other person .....

doctor who - pretty easy to think about, the doctor has had so many companions over the years, and each time they end up leaving them. even after he meets rose, who wished to stay together forever ("how long are you gonna stay with me?" "forever.") but then she ends up leaving, the doctor is left to continue on for so much longer ..

torchwood - pretty same as above, jack never commits himself to a relationship, he knows everyone will leave him anyway. but then he meets ianto jones. and it all changes, he falls in love, which he said he would never do, and thats why he doesnt ever say "i love you," because once he says it then he cant deny it any longer. once he says it than he will have to admit that ianto, someone that he does love, is lost to him.

class - ok, charlie isnt technically immortal from what i know, but i am assuming he probably has a longer lifespan than humans (basing this off this line - "you want to know who would be the last one standing out of the five of us? i would." e6) so ! its mentioned a lot (and is the main theme, as i said earlier) that matteusz and charlie dont want to lose each other. i want to specifically point out the line “every day i think, please dont go where i cant follow.” (e8) because it just so implies that charlie is different. he can go places, live longer than matteusz ever can. 

going to add this onto the end here, but i just thought that actually merlin kinda fits into this too ! 

loss - the loss of his father, of his one childhood friend (will?), the knights of the round table (pretty sure a lot of them die too, correct me if im wrong) and even arthur who leaves in the end. everyone around him just seems to leave or turn bad 

fear - we all know merlin is powerful, right ? i mean i swear it says somewhere hes like ... the greatest sorcerer to ever live or smth. and yes, arthur doesnt technically fear him, but if we think about what would have happened if merlin revealed his magic earlier, when camelot was still under the rule of uther and arthur was still scared of ppl w magic .... idk abt this one ndjnsjd it works in my head okay

trauma - had to get some help from @a-confused-contradictory-mess​ here and she brought up some good points ! when he was younger, because of his magic, he never really fit in. his mother made him hide, because she feared what would happen if he found out. (i ... think?) imagine what that does to someone, having to hide something about yourself for so long.

immortality - after everyone leaves around him, theres kinda no escape. he has to live with it for all the years that his immortal life goes by. this ties in a lot w how jack and the doctor feel, with everyone around them making them left all alone. 

tldr: losing the one person they always thought would stay, one being scared of the other's power, the trauma affecting one of them, immortality and the price that comes w it are all some really good parallels between these ships/shows and genuinely kill me inside

#no good content only incoherent ramblings #none of this makes sense ! #i am fully aware #doctor who #torchwood #bbc class #merlin #yes theres probably only a few ppl out there who have watched all 4 shows but i am posting this anyway #it took me three hours #and for what #i am probably going to end up making a gifset of this .... we'll see

[agent-jones]

Jacklynn rambles about the Office of Never Was and Ianto’s characterisation

Hi! Okay so, a post made not long ago reminded me that I wanted to talk about the audio The Office of Never Was and the implications of Ianto’s actions within this story. So, this is going to be very spoilery, considering I will be specially talking about the ending of it mostly, please don’t read if you don’t want to be spoiled on this audio [ also there will be some spoilers for the TW1 box set Before the Fall ]

Right. I know this audio gets a mixed reaction, honestly I haven’t met a lot of people who really like it. And to be fair! I didn’t like it at first either. I thought it fucked with canon too much and the timelines didn’t make sense and Ianto’s characterisation at the end just makes you go ‘wait is he really doing this? This doesn’t feel like Ianto Jones to me.’ But, the more I analysed it for character study, the more it makes sense for him.

First, let’s talk timeline.

It is really hard to place this one, because no concrete evidence is given one way or another. We know that Ianto says ‘everyone had gone home, even you’ when making the recording for Jack, which implies it’s more than the three of them so that places it during s1 or s2. But, for me it’s three things that has me placing it during series one: 1. The way he talks about Lisa. His go to is still ‘she’s my girlfriend who was murdered’ and while yes, she will always be his girlfriend who was murdered, by series two, he and jack were in an actual relationship of some sort and he is much more one with the team, so I don’t think his first instinct would be Lisa anymore. When Claire asked him about having a girlfriend, series two Ianto probably would have mentioned Jack. 2. The fact that Torchwood decided to retcon all of the dead employees away from their loved ones is not in character for Torchwood Three and feels more like something Torchwood One would do. 3. I’m pretty sure someone asked James Goss on Twitter once and he said it was set in series one.

This would mean that the reason Ianto is being tormented here is something that he did while he was at Torchwood One, considering the man mentioned it had been about a year since it happened. But, Jacklynn, you say, Torchwood One is in London and this company was in Cardiff. Yes, however we have seen Yvonne travel to Cardiff before [ One Rule ] in order to simply take care of something, herself, and I would not put it past her to do it again. And why not send Ianto? He’s the perfect cover, Welsh. We never find out if Jack knew anything about what happened, and I feel like if Torchwood One caused that much of a problem, he would absolutely wipe his hands of it and tell Yvonne that it’s officially her problem [ and probably warn her to stay out of Cardiff ] and therefore never dealt with Ianto.

One thing about Ianto in Torchwood One, is that he follows Yvonne whether he believes her actions are completely right or not. This could be because of the trigger she put in his head to trust her anytime her name is said, or it could be his unfailing loyalty and people pleasing to a fault. Whatever it is, we learn in the Torchwood One box sets that he will definitely voice his displeasure, but in the end he will always follow Yvonne’s orders. So no, he didn’t make the decision to retcon everyone, but he did go through with helping do it and yeah, that sucks. But, it’s in character for him, and what was he going to do? Quit Torchwood and have the last three years of his life retconned away from him and go back to the life he had before that he wasn’t sure he wanted to survive? No. Does that excuse him? Of course not. But, Torchwood One was all about following orders. For Queen and Country, for a aense of duty.

Retconning himself to clear his conscious the first time, after retconning the dead employees’ families also seems out of character when you take into account that he refused to let Rachel retcon him after the mission where Pippa died. But, that’s because he didn’t trust Rachel. If Yvonne told him to retcon himself? I absolutely believe he would because he trusted her to have his best interest at heart; so often Yvonne showed that she truly cared for the people who worked at Torchwood [ even though she used people for hers and Torchwood’s gain ] and Ianto believed her. So yes, once again it’s him following orders and in a way justifying it to himself because why should anyone remember that kind of carnage and tragedy if they don’t have to?

Now, what he does at the end, retconning himself to leave the man for dead in the building, it’s dark. It’s brutal. It’s murder. Yeah. But, Ianto is not above this. I know that Ianto is made out, most of the time, to be this beacon of goodness. He’s empathetic and in the TW1 audios is considered Yvonne’s conscience. He wants to save the world. But, he’s also ruthless. He canonically killed about 12 people in cold blood because they were putting Jack’s and Gwen’s lives in danger [ Torchwood Consequences: Virus ]. He walked up to a man and put a taser between his eyes and said ‘pray they survive,’ because has anyone on the team died, Ianto was promising to come back and kill him [ Meat ]. He promised Mandy, a woman who saved him from hurting himself, he would kill her on sight if she ever returned to Cardiff because of what she did [ Broken ].

Ianto Jones will do what it takes to protect the innocent and he is not above exacting revenge.

Had Claire [ I know we don’t think that’s her real name but she liked it so I’m keeping it ] survived, had the man [ and I truly don’t remember his name whoops OH IT’S OLIVER ISNT IT? Not going back and changing it now, too late ] not simply labelled her as ‘collateral damage’ and shrugged the death he caused off, he probably would have survived. But, Ianto cared for that girl, he wanted to help her even though he knew she had something to do with his torment that night. It wasn’t her fault and he knew that and then Oliver killed her.

Ianto spent all night being psychologically tortured by this guy and then watched him shrug off an innocent girl’s death, then Oliver decided it was time for Ianto to die. I don’t care what he says, had Ianto not gotten the upper hand, Oliver absolutely would have left him for dead. He was lying to try to get Ianto to show mercy.

But, he was wrong about Ianto Jones. He underestimated him and that cost him his life.

Now, once again I have to say that I do not condone Ianto’s actions [ as I’ve said in my defence of Gwen post ] but, I understand why he did it. I absolutely do think it’s in character because Ianto absolutely has a certain darkness inside of him that allows him to kill when he deems necessary, we’ve seen it several times.

Do I believe that this means people shouldn’t like his character as much? Absolutely not. Isn’t the point of Torchwood that all of them are unlikable in some ways because they’re human and make mistakes? Yeah, killing is VERY BAD and shouldn’t be excused. But, it’s okay to still like a fictional character even though they’ve done things like this. There’s a difference between enjoying a character for who they are, even the bad, and condoning what they do.

But yes, this has been my ted talk on The Office of Never Was and why I believe it is in character and yes, I very much love this audio because I love seeing the glimpses of his ruthlessness.

#ianto jones #torchwood #; sorry this is so long #; but I hope people find it interesting!! #; I’ve spent too much time analysing this audio and his choices

[this-is-quite-homoerotic]

Another Janto AU idea I’ll probably never write

Okay, this one’s a bit weird. TRUST ME THOUGH, I WON’T LET YOU DOWN!

(Warning: there is no underage, I swear. In case it looks like that’s where I’m heading, I promise I’m not.)

I’ve been thinking about the Jack&Owen father/son dynamic and the Owen&Ianto brothers dynamic and.

No-aliens Modern day AU where a young Jack marries Owen’s mum after a short and tumultuous love affair when Owen’s a kid. The marriage doesn’t last, Jack starts growing out of love with her when he sees how she treats little Owen, who at this point would be 7 or so, and soon other flaws he’d been too enamoured to notice start becoming more and bigger issues until the couple breaks up.

Jack is in his early 20s, and if you’d ask him before he married he’d have told you he wasn’t anywhere near ready to be a father. That doesn’t stop him from imprinting on Owen within minutes of meeting him, however, and with the way Owen’s mother treats him, he actually ends up taking him in the divorce, after many rows and a few teary discussions, because he loves the kid, and he can see that she was not actually in the position to raise anyone, for a variety of reasons that I won’t elaborate on here. She does visit him, Jack is always happy to facilitate her visits with Owen, but not terribly often.

It takes a few years, but Jack eventually adopts him legally, with his mother’s blessings. He talks to Owen every step of the way, always listens to what he has to say, always respecting (within reason) what he wants. Through mutual agreement, they never change Owen’s last name.

Jack isn’t the best father ever, by any stretch. It’s a learning curve, and there’s a few big stumbles. But he loves that kid so much, and for the first time in his life Owen has an adult and parental figure who listens attentively to what he has to say, who always asks for his opinion before making any choices that affect him, who would kill and die for him, who loves him, unconditionally, and it makes a difference.

So Owen grows up with love and support, and once he hits puberty he’s only a tiny bit nervous to tell his father he’s bi since Jack has been dating people of all genders on and off since he divorced his mother. Owen was consistently suspicious of all of them, and privately thought none of them was good enough for his father, but he never said it. He did want Jack to be happy, after all. None of them last too long, and in the end it’s always just the two of them. Jack seems happy enough with it, so Owen doesn’t worry.

Anyway, his coming out goes great; Jack is so proud he cries a little and he insists on hugging him even longer than usual. (Jack is a hugger, Owen has resigned himself to it.) Owen huffs and doles out the eye-rolls and the ‘it’s-not-a-big-deal’s and ‘oh my god, dad, you’re so embarrassing’ but he’s secretly very pleased. Jack takes him to pride for the first time that very year, and it becomes a yearly tradition.

Owen befriends Ianto Jones by proxy at first: Ianto was in his group of friends and they ended up hanging out together a lot, first in a group and later more one-on-one. He’s alright, even if he is two whole years younger than him and a bit of a nerd. There is one (1) instance when Owen almost got mad at him, when Ianto asked if he’d been adopted (after another mate of his mentioned something about it). But after he’d replied defensively, he realised Ianto wasn’t trying to be mean about it. At all. 

“That must be great, though. You know for sure that your dad wanted you, was willing to fight to keep you.” That’s how Owen found out about Ianto’s not so great home situation.

So they became mates, and soon Owen starts inviting Ianto over.

Now, the problem with being raised by a young, stunningly attractive single parent, of course, is that all his friends are more likely to have a crush on his father than they are to like him that way. Not that Owen fancies Ianto or anything. But it’s weird, Jack is old.

Ianto, like most of Owen’s female friends and some of his guy friends, develops a crush on his father. Fucking hell. The little shit keeps sneaking furtive little glances Jack’s way, and whenever Jack actually addresses him, he smiles beatifically and pretends he’s not the acerbic juvenile delinquent he really is (as if Owen would hang out with him if he was that boring). He perks up whenever Jack is around; smiles all the time. It’s bizarre.

Jack doesn’t notice. Once the initial weirdness wears off, Owen thinks it’s hilarious that his father can’t see through Ianto’s polite, helpful little boy facade. So he doesn’t say anything. He just enjoys the show. It goes like this: Ianto comes over, they hang out for a while. Jack gets home from work, Ianto gets starry eyed and promptly becomes this alien perfectly-behaved A-student right in front of Owen’s very amused eyes. Ianto’s crush goes right over Jack’s head the entire time. Owen gets to laugh at Ianto being flustered and/or pretending to have perfect manners, and Ianto gets whatever dopamine rush he gets from staring at Jack. Win-win.

They keep in touch when Owen goes to uni and later when Ianto goes to a different one, but they don’t see each other very often and eventually grow distant. Yadda yadda, life happens and eventually they re-connect.

Ianto introduces Owen to a friend of his, Katie, obnoxiously telling her that while he isn’t as hot as his father, he’ll do. (Katie fully believes he’s joking until Owen brings her home to meet Jack. She still thinks Owen is hotter, but she can see what Ianto meant, certainly. “That’s love for you,” Ianto laments. “It blinds you.” Owen pretends to be offended.)

The thing is, Owen falls head-over-heels with Katie. He’s absolutely gone on her, and after discussing it a little to make sure she’s on the same page as him, he pops the question. Ianto is, of course, invited to the wedding.

So that’s how we get to 25-year-old Ianto seeing early-to-mid 40s Jack again for the first time in almost a decade. For the first time ever, Jack sees him right back.

Understandably, Jack feels a little guilty about noticing how nicely his son’s younger friend looks in a suit, but there’s no harm in looking, right? The ceremony is lovely, Jack cries (and so does Owen, though he glares when anyone mentions it), after which they swiftly move on to the party.

Deep into the night, late enough that the bride and groom have retired to start their honeymoon, Jack is having one more drink as he watches the mostly drunk guests dance and toast to the happy couple. He’s feeling old and maudlin and so happy for his son that his chest could burst, when Ianto makes his move.

Talking leads to snogging leads Ianto pushing Jack up against an out-of the-way wall and whispering all the dirty things he’d like to do to him in that sinful Welsh accent leads to them falling in bed together at Jack’s hotel room and staying there for the next several hours (not all of them spent awake).

Jack, having had no clue that Ianto had harbored an intense teenage crush on him and had been dreaming about this for literal years, figured it was just a one-night-thing brought about by loneliness or boredom.

The morning after, however, Ianto formally asks him out.

Jack protests (only a little, and with no real force behind it) that he’s almost twice Ianto’s age, surely he can’t mean to actually date him. Ianto assures him that he does.

They go out to have a very late brunch. It’s their first official date, and Jack has more fun than he’s had in years. Ianto, who’d only thought of Jack infrequently if still fondly during the years he hadn’t seen him, is positively giddy. Turns out seeing Jack again was all it took for the attraction to come roaring back. But now he can really get to know Jack as an adult, beyond the fantasies he made up as a hormonal teen. The real man holds up surprisingly well against the fantasy. 

Ianto confesses his teenage crush, confesses that he wondered what Jack might look like after all these years when he realised he’d be seeing him again at the wedding, but he never in a million years had expected Jack to somehow look even more delectable than he had back then. (Jack doesn’t blush, but he wants to. They end up right back in his hotel bed once they’re done with brunch.)

Truth is, Jack hadn’t expected it to last, not really. He’d hoped to have some fun with a gorgeous young man before said man got bored and moved on without him. He didn’t expect to fall in love. He certainly didn’t expect, wouldn’t have believed that sleepy morning when he’d woken up in the arms of a warm, sleep-soft Welshman who asked to take him out on a proper date, that a man young enough to be his son and handsome enough to have his choice of partner would be falling in love with him.

Owen choked on his own laughter when Jack told him Ianto had taken him out on that first date. “I cannot believe it. He did it. He actually did it. The absolute mad lad. It only took him a decade, but he did it. That crazy motherfucker. Fatherfucker. Oh my god, fatherfucker.” Then he started cackling again. Jack was too relieved he wasn’t upset about it to be offended. Despite Ianto’s reassurances that there had never been anything other than strictly platonic friendship between him and Owen, Jack still had the tiniest of worries that Owen might have harbored a crush on Ianto back in his teens. He’d invited Ianto more often than any of his other friends, and the atmosphere had always been different with him, though Jack had never managed to put his finger on how, back then.

Owen laughed even harder when Jack carefully broached the subject. “Are you kidding me? He was too busy ogling you to ever notice me, thank Christ. Would have been awkward if he did, I always saw him more as a little brother, really.” Well, didn’t that make Jack feel supremely awkward. His son saw his latest lover as a little brother. Weird, even by Jack’s standards. At least Ianto’s teenage crush confession was true. Still a bit weird, but flattering, now that that kid had grown into a gorgeous young man who still found Jack 'disarmingly attractive’ (his words).

“Of course you have my blessings,” Owen griped good-naturedly when Ianto called to ask. In retrospect, calling him during his honeymoon with the woman he loved who he’d only met because Ianto had introduced them had been a good tactical decision. He was feeling charitable towards him, and he was too high on love and sex to begrudge Ianto this.

“Thank you. You can call me ‘Tad’ if you want,” Ianto countered, because he was still a little shit with a sarcastic streak a mile wide and a penchant for annoying Owen even when he was technically begging for his blessing to date Owen’s father.

“Fuck off,” Owen told him, but there was no bite to it, he sounded amused if anything, and Ianto knew then that Owen had meant it.

“Of course. I won’t rush you. I can wait until it feels organic, son.”

Owen hung up on him. Less than a minute later, Ianto got a text message that said. ‘If you break his heart, I’ll kick your arse xoxo’. He sent back a string of heart emojis.

A year and a half later, Ianto called Owen to tell him he was planning to propose. Owen demanded to be his best man.

The year Owen turned thirty-one, Jack and Ianto adopted two siblings (a little boy and a baby girl). They named Owen their godfather (yes, both of them).

That day, as Owen was asked to sign the papers that would legally make him the children’s guardian in case anything happened to their fathers, he remembered the day he met Jack, when his mother had brought him over for the first time. He remembered, a bit blurry due to time, the talks Jack and his mother had had with him when they were in the process of splitting up, how Jack had fought to convince them both that he should be the one to raise Owen. He recalled, like a much-beloved photograph he took out to stare at when he needed it, the well-worn memory of walking into their new house for the first time, and realising that it was real, that Jack really did mean to adopt him, that he’d really be living with him from then on; that Jack really wanted him. He remembered all the times Jack had told him that family wasn’t blood, family was love, and trust, and commitment. And he remembered, with perfect, stunning clarity, a 15-year-old Ianto telling him he’d like to adopt when he was older, even if he ended up with someone who could get pregnant.

He also remembered a 15-year-old Ianto making heart eyes at his father in their living-room while Owen struggled not to laugh at him, and really, one had to respect a man who stuck to his convictions. Ianto certainly knew what he wanted and put in the work to get it.

At least he was pretty sure he could trust Ianto with Jack’s heart.

(Epilogue:

Because Ianto has a terrible sense of humour, he spends an entire summer calling Owen ‘son’ and ‘kid’ and ‘sport’. Owen makes a face the first couple of times, but he’s brought around pretty quickly between 1) the way Katie laughs whenever Ianto does this, and 2) the bewildered looks it gets them whenever someone hears it, because not only is Ianto younger than Owen, he also looks it. It makes for interesting situations.

So rather than be annoyed, Owen starts to enjoy it. He decides to lean into it, starts calling Ianto ‘tad’ and ‘dad’ and ‘father’, and one memorable time ‘the man who literally birthed me’. Katie chokes on her drink and laughs so hard her abdomen hurts for the next day. Jack actually falls off his chair laughing. Ianto looks like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, the little shit.

And they were a loving family who were disgustingly happy for the rest of their lives and never had tragedy befall them, not even once, the end.)

#Torchwood #Captain Jack Harkness #Owen Harper #Ianto Jones #Janto #AU #Janto AU #not!fic #wherein i write #bitch i'm crying what the fuck happened #this wasn't supposed to be this long OR this fluffy what? #where are all these feelings coming from?? i am confusion?? #me: haha i'll just write down this idea i had as a tumblr post. just a few paragraphs. a drabble. #me 2.4k of not!fic later: what the fuck #does this count as a crack AU?

[mistoelectra]

Why Jack Harkness deserved better

I said I was going to write this so here it is

WHY JACK HARKNESS DESERVED BETTER (SPECIFICALLY FROM THE TENTH DOCTOR)

Okay, so this is something I’ve been meaning to write for a little while, because I’ve been rewatching New Who from the beginning, and Jack is probably one of my favourite characters, and seeing the way Ten acts towards him makes my heart hurt. It also makes me really wish they could have brought Jack back in to interact with other incarnations of the Doctor because I feel like seeing the different dynamics would have been really interesting (also let’s face it, John Barrowman would be hella up for it).

This is gonna primarily focus on Doctor Who events but draw on things from Torchwood because that obviously gave us a lot more info on Jack and his past. But also I’m not going to go too in depth with Torchwood stuff, because that’s a whole different essay with full in-depth vaguely shitty psychoanalysis (I have a degree but I am far from proficient).

Let’s start at the beginning with Jack’s first appearance in The Doctor Dances/The Empty Child, which are admittedly two of my favourite episodes of series 1. Admittedly, he does at first come off as cocky, brash, a little callous, and of course, a self-professed con-man and criminal. Except at the same time, we already get to see some of his heart. His cons are based selling space junk to (what seem to be) rather wealthy parties, then getting that junk destroyed before they find out what they’ve actually bought. He himself states that he believes the Chula ambulance was completely empty, so wouldn’t do any damage, and specifically programmed it so it wouldn’t hit anything living. While this doesn’t necessarily make things any more moral, it still says something about Jack. There are plenty who wouldn’t have even bothered to do that. There’s also the fact that he’s not doing it for money, but in an attempt to get back his stolen memories.

Continuing on, Jack rescues Rose and the Doctor from the hospital, proving further that he is not quite as callous as he might make out to be. Given he now knows they’re time agents, there’s technically nothing stopping him from just abandoning them and getting the hell out of this time period (except possibly his time agency training reminding him that he may have done fucked up and he needs to fix it). He almost immediately places his trust in the Doctor, jumps at the chance to help him, and when the time comes, he doesn’t even hesitate in getting the bomb (and don’t tell me he doesn’t know the risk to himself, because he totally does. He knows his chances of getting out of this are slim, but Jack Harkness is a self-sacrificing bastard if ever there was one).

(Brief sidetrack to Torchwood- Jack mentions in Countrycide (1x06) that he’s proficient in torture and once had a reputation as a go-to guy for getting answers, but it’s never really made clear when this occurred, or if it’s even truthful. Was it the Time Agency? Was it Victorian era Torchwood? Who knows?)

Next appearance. Boom Town. That interesting outfit choice. But that aside, this is where we get to see how smart Jack is. Sure, he’s from the future so he’s going to have knowledge that will sound impressive, but there’s also his plan to catch Margaret, which is pretty tactically sound. Again, Jack was a time agent, so he’s definitely not going to be just any old idiot, not to mention he was a soldier as well. We also see him working on the TARDIS, which is pretty much something we don’t really see other companions do much of in New Who, and certainly not in their third episode, which I think says a lot, both about Jack, and about the trust the Doctor now places in Jack.

The final two episodes. For one, and on a different tangent, Jack keeps a gun up his ass. Is this a common thing? Is this just so the Doctor can’t take it off him like he did before? How is this safe? For two, and on the same tangent, Jack stop groping the robots. Finally, can we appreciate how efficient Jack is? Sure, he’s a little confused at first, but he throws himself into the situation, lets them give him a few different outfits, then calmly takes them down, makes himself a gun and gets out of there without much hassle. His reaction to Rose’s ‘elimination’ absolutely breaks my heart just as much as the Doctor’s, because while the Doctor is just completely silent and lost looking, you can hear and see Jack absolutely going off in the background, lashing out. Similarly, his reaction upon realising that Rose is alive…just yes.

Second side track- how quickly did Jack get that TARDIS key? I mean, I know there were multiple adventures between episodes, but regardless, he had a key by Boom Town. That’s hella speedy.

And then there’s dealing with the daleks. Jack knows how big a deal this is, he was a time agent after all. One hit, that’s all it takes. The Doctor probably would have let him leave Satellite 5 if he’d asked, but he didn’t. He stepped up, almost certainly knowing he was going to die, but willing to do whatever he could to give the Doctor any little scrap of time he could. And he gets killed for it. And then he gets brought back to life, and he’s surrounded by dalek dust, and he gets to watch the TARDIS leave without him. And his expression is just so heartbroken, and it hurts so much. What is he thinking? Is he hoping they’ll come back for him? Does he think that they think he’s dead so they’ve left without him?

And this is the first of the Doctor’s assholery (albeit this is still 9 and not 10). He just abandons Jack, without any form of explanation as to what has just happened, on a satellite surrounded by dalek dust and corpses. While I appreciate all the Doctor was going through and the whole ‘Jack now makes me physically sick’ thing, like dude, c’mon, you owe him an explanation. He has literally just died for you, it’s the very least you can offer.

And then there’s all the shit Jack goes through before they reunite again. I could spend all day going into depth on this but let’s just summarise it: managing to get back to Earth, ending up in 19th century Cardiff, 150 years of waiting which include: dying a lot (like seriously, he has at least two separate times where people essentially kill him on repeat just because he can come back, don’t tell me that doesn’t have an effect on your psyche), being tortured, being more or less coerced into a job, two world wars, several lost loves, his boss killing the entire team and then himself, being forced into a leadership position that he does not want, recruiting his own team, Canary Wharf and Rose’s name on the list of the dead, Suzie, being shoved into the rift (Thanks Ianto), a cyberwoman in his own basement (Thanks Ianto), being blamed by his entire team for the faeries and Jasmine, watching another man out of his time kill himself and being unable to do anything but keep him company, watching one of his team more or less let a weevil attack him, being mutinied against and killed by a team member (Thanks Owen), and then getting his life energy devoured by a legitimate hell beast.

And then the Doctor shows up, and Jack runs for him, and the Doctor runs away. Nothing like a stinging sense of rejection and a jaunt to the end of the universe to help your self esteem. And pretty much the first thing the Doctor does is criticise him. And what’s worse is that the Doctor won’t even admit that he abandoned Jack. ‘Busy life. Moving on.’ It’s just such an incredibly callous statement that just completely ignores Jack’s feelings and just seems to treat him as a piece of trash to be discarded. And Jack would be wholly within his right to go off at the Doctor, but he doesn’t. Instead he asks about Rose, and there’s the hug, because he can just tell that the Doctor has something against him, but Rose is a somewhat neutral territory.

Cue the Doctor being blatantly rude to Jack for an entire scene about both his vortex manipulator and his abandonment, as well as making it more or less clear to Jack that he knew all along about Jack’s immortality. That him being left on the Game Station was no accident. And that’s just cold. And yet despite all this, the moment Jack’s with them again, the Doctor’s immediately controlling him. Dictating what he can and can’t do, and in all honesty, it feels very much like he’s still treating Jack as the brash playboy he knew in his last regeneration? Like he can’t see just how much Jack has changed since they last met, how he’s most certainly not the same man he was. He also willingly throws Jack into a situation which is dangerous and will probably cause him pain (don’t tell me that radiation chamber didn’t cause Jack pain. Just because it can’t kill me doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt) just because he knows Jack will do anything for him (and also Jack would probably volunteer anyway because he’s that sort of person). And he admits to Jack’s face that he’s known all along, that he ran away from him. He point blank tells Jack to his face that he’s wrong and that he can hardly bear to look at him, without so much as a thought to how that’s bound to feel. Asks Jack if he wants to die. The whole conversation just makes me feel on edge because it does not feel at all like a healthy friendship.

Then, when Jack tells him he’s with Torchwood, there’s the Doctor’s reaction, and it’s just so vehement. His lack of belief in Jack is just heartbreaking, because it’s such a switch from his relationship with the 9th Doctor. It’s like Jack isn’t a companion to him anymore, but more of a sort of tool. And in the Year That Never Was, we pretty much get implied that Jack gets repeatedly tortured and killed for at least the third time in his existence, over and over for an entire year. It seems pretty likely too that the Master probably executes the rest of the Torchwood team too, probably using them in an attempt to break Jack. Sure, it all gets reversed, but it clearly fucks with Jack (and we can see that in Torchwood series 2). But Jack holds up the brave front, destroys the paradox machine. And you can bet it probably hurt him like hell when the Doctor mentions keeping the Master in the TARDIS, because it kinda seems like he’d rather have the Master there than Jack. And sure, he offers to let Jack come with him, but I feel like it’s an empty offer. He knows that Jack has found something else in their time apart, knows he’s probably not going to accept. And then of course, he breaks Jack’s vortex manipulator. While I do understand this, it also makes me sad, because if he’d at least left the teleport function working, there’s a chance that Owen and Tosh could have been saved.

Jump to their next reunion after Jack has faced the following: dealing with the psychological trauma from all the shit that just happened to him, losing Owen, bringing him back, finding his long lost little brother and being stabbed by him then buried under Cardiff for nearly 2000 years, being frozen for like a century, having to stop his little brother, losing Tosh, losing Owen again. And when the world needs saving, Jack doesn’t hesitate to jump straight in, especially once they get through to the Doctor, even though he is quite clearly terrified of the daleks. He’s the only one to actually be somewhat calm and methodical when the Doctor is shot. In the dalek ship, he willingly sacrifices himself in order to be able to explore the ship more and find some way to help them. But the moment he starts making threats, there’s the Doctor’s disapproval back again. But they do it, they save the world, they go home.

And then Children of Earth happens. Jack’s entire world shatters. He loses Ianto. He has to sacrifice his own grandson to save the world. The Doctor is nowhere in sight. Jack leaves Earth, crushed. And the Doctor does his little journey through the companions to say goodbye. He saves Martha and Mickey. He gives the scratch card for Donna. He saves Luke for Sarah Jane. He visits Rose just to see her again.

And Jack?

He gives Jack Alonso. And maybe it’s just me, but I find it wholly uncomfortable. It’s a possibility the Doctor doesn’t know about the whole affair with the 456 and what Jack went through, or that he more specifically doesn’t know about Jack’s losses. But it’s also possible that he does. And he feels like the best thing he can do is to essentially offer him a shag. Even though he’s very clearly heavily grieving (No hate to Alonso, I love him) and has just lost someone he deeply loved. It feels like further confirmation of the fact that Ten still sees him as the playboy he was. Because let’s face it, Jack still flirts like a champ, but Torchwood very much paints him as that only extending to his flirting. Any further seems to fall exclusively within having relationships, which are considerably infrequent in the series (with Estelle, Angelo, Lucia and Ianto seeming to be the principal partners in his life over his 150 years). To be fair, this ‘gift’ to Jack doesn’t really seem so much an asshole move, as just Ten no longer understanding Jack, not in the way he used to.

But yeah, this got kinda longer than I initially expected and could probably do with severe editing but oh well, here it is in it’s entirety anyway.

#torchwood #bbc torchwood #captain jack harkness #jack harkness #john barrowman #tenth doctor #david tennant #ninth doctor #christopher eccleston #ianto jones #gareth david lloyd #dr owen harper #owen harper #burn gorman #rose tyler #billie piper #the doctor #doctor who #the master #martha jones #russell t davies

[i-was-bored-so-this-happened]

Rae Watches Torchwood

2x13 Exit Wounds

I’m scared @nowhere-dawn-death-phan

Spoilers. Obviously

Can someone just carry Tosh, please? Can I just carry Tosh please?

Rift activity at Police Headquarters? Gwen’s phone’s ringing? ANDY

Yeah!

Oof, there’s blood on the walls at Police Headquarters. Andy, don’t get killed

Oh man, Rhys. There’s...there’s a whole lot to unpack there and they don’t have the time

Music!

“If we did have a song, it wouldn’t be this song.”

���They weren’t human, least not like any human I’ve ever seen” So Weevils then

Are the Weevils targeting people?

Do I get to see more Running Weevils, because that always makes me laugh

“I’m keeping more secrets than you’d ever believe.” “Like what?” “Like a Time Agency based in Cardiff.” Well you just spilled that one, didn’t you? Even though it’s not true....

“I ask, you tell, well done.” Andy gets it!

Tosh-and-Ianto! Neither of you better get more hurt!

Oof people with scythes 

Oh, I liked that

Hoixie

Is he...feeding it cigarettes?

“First of all, you were rude to me.”

Eye Candy, I forgot he called Ianto that

“Hold on, do I mean fun or do I mean carnage? I get them confused...” Me, every time I try and write fluff and someone ends up dead or in hospital

Is he just going to straight-up blow up Cardiff? Nah...

Oh, never mind, I was right. Shit

Anomaly much, Rift?

I think the more accurate question might be when is Jack...

A Mysterious ‘He’ huh?

Why do I get the feeling that Gray is the mysterious He controlling John? Or am I just being over-suspicious?

Hate to say called it, but called it

Look at Gwen taking charge. Look at Rhys’ face

Ianto, don’t you dare die

TOSH, DON’T YOU DARE DIE

Danny and Patrick Quinn but dialled up to 1000

Magic time travel ring? Tracker ring? What’s in the ring?

Rhys, don’t die again

So Captain John Hart can be an arse all by himself now

Tracker ring!

Pop go the Weevils

Just wondering, where’s Owen? Haven’t seen him for a while

Oh, there he is. Still at the hospital, okay

KING OF THE WEEVILS

Ah, Andy

Ianto going to shoot John instantly

“If we don’t find him, I’ll kill you. Very slowly.”

Owen. That’s it, that’s the note

“Can you fix it?” “Of course I can, I’m brilliant.” Yes you are, Toshiko Sato

TOSH. FUCK. TOSH. WHAT. TOSH

I thought I was prepared for this I am not prepared

I don’t even care about the banging my whole mind’s just yelling Tosh

Jack-in-the-box

He’s walkin’ It hurts him But he’s walkin’

The Boy Who Lived

DID TOSH GET TO THE THINGY WHERE’S TOSH

TOSH

“Are you hurt?” oh my god that hurt, I’m so close to crying, Jesus, Owen

TOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH

GO. FIND. TOSH. SAVE TOSH

Ah, fuck! Owen! Fucking run!

NO

Oh beans, they’re going to die together

Nothing is your fault, okay, Tosh? Nothing

oh my god

I can’t cry, I’m still in the living room with my parents

he doesn’t know Tosh is dying too

oh my god nooooooooooooooooooooooooo

WHY HASN’T ANYONE FOUND TOSH YET

TOO FUCKING LATE, JACK, OH MY GOD, WHY ARE YOU SO LATE

oh god i’m crying. actually crying

oh my god Tosh left a message I don’t think I can handle this

oh god oh god oh god

I need a hug now so much more than I did last night can someone please give me a hug

#oh god #oh my god #this ruined me #rae watches torchwood #torchwood

[agentdagonet]

Eggsy’s time in the military? Was actually as a high ranking Torchwood agent. And he gets called upon for his expertise by MI5(or the queen or whoever). Kingsman is like ??????

(so, I went and read the top 5 fics in the Torchwood archive, rated by Kudos, to try and get into this mindset. I’ve never written for Torchwoood, and it’s been years since I’ve watched it, so thank you for reminding me of  this brilliant ‘verse. I don’t know what it is, honestly, but I hope I did okay!)

Eggsy was looking at the file in front of him a bit angrily. 

Harry couldn’t understand why, considering the mission at hand- find the source of the missing persons, perform a rescue operation, and return to HQ. It wasn’t a particularly difficult mission as it was a strange one; there were no commonalities between the missing persons that they could identify outside of living in the same city which was truly nothing at all. But the other intelligence agencies were in an uproar about this particular set of missing and reappearing and missing-again people, and therefore Kingsman took an interest.

There were few things that the rest of their neighbouring agencies knew of that Kingsman did not as opposed to the other way around, so this was a gap they were eager to bridge.

But none of that explained Eggsy’s clenched fist and pursed lips. It was certainly not a frustration at the seeming simplicity of the mission, Eggsy had done far simpler with not even a huff of indignation, but something about this had him immediately at odds.

‘Are you comfortable with this mission, Galahad?’ Harry asked, eyes kind but not soft, and Eggsy seemed to deflate like a balloon before giving the file a resigned look.

‘Yeah, ‘s fine. I’ll leave tomorrow.’ Eggsy picked it up and left the room, and Harry watched as he pressed his still-clenched fist into his pocket as the door swung shut behind him.

Curious.

Eggsy loosened his hand, noting the half-moon indents from his fingernails, as he settled himself into the bullet train. It wouldn’t do to start on the wrong foot.

Or pick back up, as it were; he had to jump into the dance as if he’d never left.

Harkness’ presence in even one of those pictures was enough to attest to that.

—

‘You know, kid, as much as I liked you plucky and adventury,’ Gwen Cooper was stood in the doorjamb as if she often frequented pubs in the middle of London, eyeing Eggsy from oxfords to specs with an amusement in her eyes that couldn’t be missed, ‘seeing you all done up has me impressed.’ Eggsy rolled his eyes, but smiled from one side before indicating the other seat at his table, which Gwen took after motioning for a drink from the barkeep.

‘Long time no see- I left, what, four years ago? And the world hasn’t ended for it.’ Eggsy raised his pint as one would to toast, if Gwen had had anything to reply with, and finished half of it in one go.

‘Not for lack of trying, I assure you,’ Gwen lifted her glass in turn, once it arrived, and they exchanged a commiserating look that could only be borne from years of familiarity.

‘Who wanted my attention, guv; cos lemme tell you, they got it.’ Eggsy ignored the ungentlemanly squawk from his specs, easily ignoring Merlin’s confused spluttering in favor of glaring Gwen into submission. She’d been the one to tell him that his family was enough of a reason to leave. That their world was dangerous and based on what he’d said of his stepdad he needed to be there for his sister. She’d looked resigned, at that, and Eggsy knew she’d been thinking of the impossible choices she’d had to make between her family and her career.

If one could call being the not-so-subtle alien-police could be called a career; and honestly Kingsman’s being unaware of them was more baffling than anything. Their names were plastered all over everything.

Actually, wait a tick, that explained a lot- Kingsman was certainly a fan of emblazoning their insignia on fucking everything as if discretion were a forgotten language. Of course they wouldn’t think anything of such an organisation.

‘Who else?’ Gwen’s voice pulled him back to the present, ‘Jack’s got it in his head that you’re the only one he could make this work with, since Ianto-’ The two shared a grimace and took a pause before continuing.

‘What’s he got, then? I’m guessin’ the missin’ people everyone’s going mad about are actually fine?’

‘Not exactly- they just aren’t fully human.’ Gwen shrugged and Merlin’s spluttering returned after a scoff- he’d barely said what could she possibly- before Eggsy tuned him out.

‘Rift?’ It was said self-deprecatingly, as if they could somehow control or predict what was spat out, but Eggsy’s utter lack of surprise (his vitals hadn’t jumped, he hadn’t so much as blinked after the statement) and quick conclusion had shut Merlin up quite nicely.

‘Rift. Jack wants to get them back home, but you know how difficult that shit is with his pheromones and his attention span.’ They grinned, and Eggsy finished his pint before sitting up proper with both hands splayed on the table.

‘You already knew I was in when I called you up, but thanks for playin’ along- tell Jack I’ll play nice and see him Tuesday.’ Eggsy leant back and made to get up from the booth, but paused, ‘You an’ yours- you make it through V-Day okay?’

‘Lucky for me I was with Jack at the time- he wasn’t affected,’ the obviously was implied and Eggsy bobbed his head in agreement, ‘but I managed to focus on him- no real risk there.’ She shrugged as if unaffected, but he could see the tension in her frame.

‘You keep score? Signal wasn’t running very long b’fore I managed to shut it down.’ Eggsy that is classified information you-

‘Well, he wasn’t fighting back so I don’t feel like it was fair- but I managed it 4 times, by his count.’ Jack’s blase attitude about his inability to die like a normal being had rubbed off on them at some point, and once that happened it wasn’t really something you could unlearn. So they’d just learnt to enjoy it, added it to their catalogue of ridiculous things that happened with alarming frequency in their line of work.

Even now that Eggsy was a Kingsman it was always going to be his line of work, it seemed. Once you learned about the Other you never stop seeing it, or wanting to help- like fucking Men In Black shite.

‘That tips you over me by half- drink’s on me, then.’ Eggsy winked, Gwen rolled her eyes, and Eggsy left the pub with a swagger he’d fought hard to erase after leaving Torchwood.

But, fuck it, what was the point of hiding?

---

‘So, you’re saying that your time in the Marines-’

‘Sham; ‘d been with Torchwood. You think I kept up parkour for shits and giggles? Sometimes all you c’n do is some fancy jumping to make it out alive, yeah- especially if they’re shootin’ lasers at you and y’don’t know what they do.’ Eggsy picked up his coffee and shot Jack a grin. It’d been easy to finish the task, like riding a bike he’d just started and it had all worked out. A few bruises, mostly to Jack’s ego, and they’d gotten everyone back where they belonged.

Overall, Kingsman’s reaction to alien life being not only a reality but a common occurrence had gone over well. The tales they’d spun about world- and universe- ending catastrophes that had been averted in the same chaotic manner as the Valentine fiasco had not done much to ease Harry’s concerns. But the promise of full access to their records, though only if Eggsy was assigned as their point of official contact, had done a lot to settle Merlin’s doubts, at least.

Merlin was deep in conversation with a handful of Archive staff, excitedly gesturing and accent deepening in the way it only did when he was excited. Harry was sat beside him, body a warm weight along where they were pressed together, and Eggsy allowed himself a giggle at the flush Harry sported after Jack’s assessment of his *ahem* assets. 

Eggsy hadn’t wanted to be sucked back in to Torchwood after he’d left, too many memories, and had figured the normal kind of espionage was exciting enough. But now that he’d had a taste of what it was like... he knew he wasn’t going to be leaving again. 

taking Kingsman prompts! I will take a stab at anything, but cannot promise posting speed!

#Anonymous #dagonet writes #kingsman #torchwood #kingsman fanfiction

[laylainalaska]

Torchwood 1x01-1x08

Since I’ve been posting Torchwood rewatch episode reactions over on DW, I may as well post them here too!

Cut with a readmore because long and also spoilery. No specific S2 spoilers except set off in its own section.

----

1x01: Everything Changes, aka Torchwood is the worst-kept secret in the greater Cardiff metropolitan area. The episode with the infamous date rape via alien aphrodisiac. I have made the deliberate choice to compartmentalize this/pretend it never happened due to TV writers being notoriously terrible with recognizing the real-world implications of fantasy aphrodisiacs and sex magic (there was just a scene like this in The Witcher in 20-fucking-20), and treat it as what it is clearly supposed to be in context -- unethical but basically harmless misuse of an alien artifact -- instead of what it really is. But I recognize that this is a personal choice and I also hate this writing decision and wish they'd picked literally any other way of making this particular point, for the record. Anyway ... the rest of this episode other than the fucking date rape was a lot of fun, though. Torchwood is the worst secret quasi-governmental agency at being secret. THE ACTUAL WORST. I love the team trying to keep straight faces and then giggling when Gwen enters their secret base, and the entire base set is just so fantastically bonkers; I really really love it a lot. There's literally a fountain in the middle of it and, like, random water everywhere?! And a pterodactyl. And the invisible lift, with Gwen's wry comment about how there's nothing to stop random pedestrians from falling down it. It's possibly the most utterly bonkers secret spy base outside of kids' cartoons and I love it. 1x02: Day One, aka Murder By Orgasm. In which the show classes things up with an alien who kills people (men only!) via orgasm. Choices were definitely made in this episode. Many choices. For sure. Owen continues to be a total sleaze because the writers think it's funny. Also, his survival when the sex alien targets him makes absolutely no sense at all. He's literally the only person she left alive, and she's in the throes of sex-energy withdrawal at the time. In short, this was an episode that happened. There were a few cute team bits but really not enough to redeem it. 1x03: Ghost Machine, aka Burn Gorman Is Very Pretty. Not that I am biased. He is so pretty in this episode. SO PRETTY. Also, for a refreshing change, Owen manages not to be creepy and sexist at all in this episode. He's just prickly and kind of sweet. I like this Owen. I want to keep him. This episode overall was really a lot of fun, aside from (or perhaps also including) the most unintentionally hilarious death of a redshirt ever, in which he goes to hug Gwen and she accidentally stabs him with the knife she's holding. But overall it's so great! The Owen arc was my favorite - I love how affected he is by the memory device (the scene where he's clearly having a panic attack and trying to keep control!) and how determined he is to get justice for the murdered girl, only to be essentially brought down by his basic decent nature and inability to kill an old man in cold blood. Owen trying to save the guy's life when he was holding a knife on him thirty seconds earlier breaks me a little bit. Lots of fun team scenes in this one, too. The Splott conversation! ("Estate agents call it Sploe.") 1x04: Cyberwoman, aka CYBERBIKINI! Here again, Choices Were Made, most of them by the costuming department with a side of deeply uncomfortable racial implications on the part of whoever cast the episode. To be fair, maybe they just couldn't afford enough tinfoil to cover CyberLisa entirely, since the budget for this episode was clearly three shoestrings and a potato. I don't know if my favorite part of the low-budget f/x is the way they're clearly splicing in Doctor Who clips for the cyberization process, or the fall of Torchwood One, a giant battle involving hundreds of participants that is represented by Ianto screaming while surrounded by plastic sheeting. Honestly, I really love this episode. It is not good by any stretch of the imagination, but there is something incredibly charming about its sheer commitment to utter batshittery and OTT sobbing over emotional team betrayals, and parts of it were incredibly tense. It has the general feel of a horror film shot by college theater majors. Also someone getting doused in barbecue sauce and fed to a pterodactyl is literally a plot point, and the team basketball game at the beginning is one of my favorite little team moments; it's so cute. Cyberbikini aside and with expectations properly lowered, this was terrific fun. 1x05: Small Worlds, aka Death By Hanahaki Disease. On the whole this episode was not terrible nor was it memorably unpleasant; it was just kind of there. In going back to write about the episodes, I really had trouble remembering what even happened in this one. The concept is really interesting, but the fairies stopped being nearly so creepy once you actually see them in all their low-budget-CGI glory; I think the episode would actually have been better if they'd stayed invisible. The flower petal deaths were really gross. I hadn't realized that, while Gwen (unlike the rest of his team) knows that Jack can die and come back, she didn't actually know before this episode that he's much older than he looks. 1x06: Countrycide, aka Don't Split The Party. WELSH MURDER VILLAGE. I loved this episode. This is the ridonkulous teamy sci-fi horror shenanigans that I'm here for. I mean, I was there with bells on for TEAM CAMPING TRIP and then it just got better and better. Ianto gets to go out in the field for the first time and nearly gets eaten by cannibals! Poor Ianto. His life is the worst. I sort of vaguely knew because of season two that there was Owen/Gwen in the first season, but what really caught me off guard is how much I enjoyed it. I was expecting meaningless sex with a side of skeeve, and I do really hate that she's cheating on her boyfriend and how pushy about it Owen is at first, not to mention outing their kiss to the whole team. But the crazy thing about it is, by the midpoint of the episode they're actually, genuinely very sweet, and by the end of the episode you can see what they're both getting out of the relationship and get the feeling that it's a positive human connection for both of them. Also, the near-kiss and teamwork in the woods was incredibly hot. I really loved (and was also surprised by) how loyal and protective Owen is toward his teammates. We saw it a little bit in the previous episode with his "Don't you touch her!" re: Gwen, but it's abundantly on display here, from Owen repeatedly insisting that they need to go after Tosh and Ianto, to his fury at the guy threatening Tosh, to his captor having to restrain him when they pull the hood off Ianto's head near the end. Love Jack's big-damn-hero entrance to the Murder House, and everyone running around screaming and getting separated and hurt, which is always a good time. Basically I just loved this episode. It needed more hurt/comforty aftermath, though. I might have to write some. 1x07: Greeks Bearing Gifts, aka Tosh Has An Alien Girlfriend. I really loved this episode, on the whole, but it is Made Of Ouch. As well as Tosh's isolation and hurt, there's also that bit where she hears Ianto's thoughts and it's just endless painpainpainpain. I like to think that after this episode, she started getting together with him for drinks occasionally and talking about things. They both need friends so badly. (I do not love Jack's random transphobic comment near the end. From JACK of all people. WHY.) And seeing Tosh's delight and squee when she gets to just geek out about things is so lovely. Tosh is absolutely a person who leaves her teammates notes with little hearts on them. I love her. ♥ (Also, as much as I love Owen personally, I really wish that so much of Tosh's storyline didn't revolve around her hopeless crush on Owen. Toshiko deserved better, in all ways, than what this show gave her.) It's too bad that Gwen and Owen's affair is, on the whole, a rather destructive thing, because they're really happy! They're like the only happy people in Torchwood at this point. It's not a grand love story or anything, but I felt like the sheer joy of that initial rush of infatuation was well conveyed and sweet. Owen's relationship with Tosh in season one is completely baffling to me. He's not only staggeringly oblivious to Tosh being into him, but she's literally the only woman at Torchwood that he doesn't hit on. And yet, it's not that he doesn't like her! He clearly does like her in a friend kind of way and enjoys hanging out with her. The card that Mary was looking at in Tosh's apartment looked handmade to me, so he literally made her a handmade birthday card! And yet, he is blindingly oblivious to her interest and rejects her every time she makes overtures. ... I mean, the meta-reason is probably just that the writers thought it would be funny if the character who always sleeps around doesn't notice the one person who really wants him. But I can't help wondering if the basic issue is that Owen has somehow, without really intending to, classified his relationship with her as basically a sibling-type one. We know from the flashbacks in season two that they both joined Torchwood at about the same time and were both in a very emotionally fragile place when they did, and Jack also has a very quasi-parental sort of vibe with both of them. It makes me wonder if Owen either tried to initiate something early on and was rebuffed because Tosh wasn't really coping well either, or if he met her at a point in his life when he was really not interested in having relationships with anyone and simply classified her mentally in a sort of little-sister category. This actually does fit very well with the sometimes bullying, sometimes playful and sweet, generally sexless way that he relates to her this season, and the way that he clearly does care about her and in fact is very protective at times; he just doesn't view her as a target of romantic interest. Anyway, Tosh was very beautiful this episode, and her alien girlfriend was also quite hot, and I really enjoyed it. 1x08: They Keep Killing Suzie, aka I don't think anything I could come up with is better than the actual title. The scene in which they've accidentally locked themselves in their secret underground base and have to call the cops to let them out is possibly my favorite scene in this entire show. That was GOLD. I also wish the cop lady from this episode had come back. She was great, and her rapport with Jack was really neat. Part of what I want to say about this episode contains massive season two spoilers, so that's set off in a spoiler section at the end. This was a highly entertaining episode with a plot that was total nonsense that falls apart within 0.2 seconds of actually thinking about it. Good emotional stuff, yes! Plot? BONKERS. I mean, Suzie's plan was something like this: 1. Drive someone insane by feeding them Retcon for two years. 2. Kill yourself. 3. ???? 4. Profit! I am just going to headcanon that the team are actually wrong about Suzie planning all of this, and it's mostly an accidental set of circumstances that she took advantage of. I did love the twist of Suzie wanting a deathbed reunion with her dad not because of love, but because she wanted to watch him die because he's terrible. (However, this does completely undermine what was previously given as part of her motivation for getting addicted to the glove, which was trying to save her dad. See above re: plot nonsense.) But the team stuff was fun! Love everyone scrambling to save Gwen, and Owen holding her at the end -- I'm still seeing them through a lens of mostly-platonic more than romantic. The general vibe with the team pulling together vs. Suzie having basically no one in Torchwood to talk to is really interesting; it's hard to say how much of that is the team having gotten closer over the course of the season, and how much of it is just Suzie not really ever bonding with her co-workers the way they bonded with each other. I mean, I do get more of a co-workery vibe off them early on, as opposed to the chosen-family feeling later on, but the closeness is there under the surface; I'm just not really sure if they've realized it yet. But with Suzie, it's hard to say if the closeness ever really was there. They're all damaged in their various ways, but I feel like Suzie might be damaged in a way that simply precluded her ever really being able to let people in, as the others are learning to. Ianto's visible depression at this point in the show is mostly down to Gareth David-Lloyd's acting, but it's so well done -- his flat affect and thousand-yard stare, especially contrasted against his dry, sarcastic humor when he's not miserable (mostly in season two). The other Ianto-related thing I noticed is that the warmer, more bantery rapport between Ianto and Owen in season two is actually present in this episode to some extent, for perhaps the first time ever. In particular, Owen makes him smile at one point by teasing him (the only time Ianto smiles in the last few episodes, I think, up until he's with Jack at the very end), and offers him the first shot at naming the knife in spite of Ianto's artifact names being genuinely terrible - like, trying to include him a little bit, in a way I haven't seen Owen doing with him before. There's a general feeling throughout this episode that Owen has warmed up to him a bit and is actually reaching out a little. And Ianto and Jack are sleeping together now! I don't know when that happened and I wish we'd seen more of the beginnings of it. It's nice to see Ianto smile, though. Season two 1x08-related spoilers: 

Watching this episode after having seen Owen's resurrection glove arc in season two was FASCINATING, especially for the compare/contrast of the way the team reacted to resurrected!Suzie vs. resurrected!Owen; I mean, the fact that she died in the process of betraying them after becoming a serial killer is obviously a large factor here, and they were somewhat wary of Owen too, but there's just so much more ambivalence in how they deal with Suzie, vs. the way that Owen's death and resurrection actually brought the team closer together, and brought Owen closer to all of them.

But the most interesting contrast to me is how Owen and Suzie, as characters, both reacted to the whole idea of having to survive by killing people, with Jack trying (unsuccessfully) to argue Suzie out of allowing Gwen to die, whereas Owen's immediate reaction to finding out that his survival might be killing people (just random people too, not teammates) was to try to sacrifice himself, not just once but multiple times, starting with a fundamentally horrible euthanasia-type death and continuing on to destroy the resurrection glove himself even though it was likely to re-kill him. Why yes, I can turn any episode discussion into an Owen discussion, even an episode he wasn't especially prominent in.

#torchwood #owen harper #ianto jones #toshiko sato #jack harkness #gwen cooper #torchwood episode reactions

[cxptained-archived]

10 Year Anniversary of the Death of Ianto Jones Drabble;

                           It’s been ten years to the day since Jack lost Ianto Jones. For a while Jack tried to push the date out of his mind. He didn’t want any part of it. He didn’t want to remember it. It hurt too much. But every time his mind drifts back to conversations with the young Welshman. Phrases float up and it hits him with the strongest sense of guilt.                                                   Blip in time.                                                                              Don’t forget me.

If Jack doesn’t remember the date, if he doesn’t burn that painful number deep down in his mind, then that’s what Ianto will become. Nothing more than a speck in his memory. Nothing to ground him to what he was. Jack can’t let that happen. He refuses.

When Ianto Jones first died, Jack lost himself. You see, there’s a lot of Ianto-Glue that holds together Jack Harkness. It’s invisible but it’s the strongest glue in the universe. It fills in the cracks left by two thousand years of torture, heart-break and wrong doings. Make no mistake there’s Jack-Glue holding together Ianto too but that now lays to rest six feet under the ground. Jack won’t ask for it back. Even if death that piece of him still belongs to Ianto.

Jack left Earth after Ianto died. There was nothing for him here. Jack lost a man he loved harder than anyone else. He arrived at Torchwood Three for the Doctor. He stayed for Ianto Jones. And why stay now? When the Doctor no longer needed him and his one true reason for remaining here was never coming back? So, Jack ran.                                          He could run forever if you let him.

Jack never slowed down - not for years.  He ran to every corner of the universe, every second of time. He screamed Ianto Jones’ name into the ether, letting it resonate with every colony, every species that he found. Ianto Jones would never be forgotten. Even if Jack himself grew old and feeble. Even if he lived so long everything was a blur. There would be an echo of Ianto’s name around the universe for everyone alike to hear. Perhaps as Jack grew old he would hear those echoes. Perhaps he wouldn’t remember a face or feel his touch but he’d hear a name in a voice so familiar. And he would know to remember it for the rest of his life.

After his voice was hoarse and there was no breath left in his lungs Jack found himself a quiet corner of the universe if there was such a thing. He stands in an open field, looks out onto the horizon and raises his Webley. Jack seems to linger, a little nervous perhaps, before pressing the barrel to his head.

                         He pulls the trigger.

                                                                             BANG.

                                                                                                       Jack drops dead.

Seconds later he gasps for air, flailing where he lays, hands grabbing out for someone that will never be there again. He raises his weapon again in shaking hands.

                         BANG.

Jack dies once more.

The cycle repeats over and over and over.

                         BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.

Reload.

                         BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.

What part of him drives this? What is his brain thinking?

Well, and perhaps this is the heart-breaking part, he hopes that one of these deaths may be his last. Maybe his number will run out. Maybe his body can only regenerate so many times in a short space of time. Maybe he’ll stay dead long enough that he gets a glimpse of that beautiful face that left him behind. Maybe he’ll stay long enough to receive a kiss.

                                                                             It never works of course.

After that Jack just keeps running. It’s years in the end. Years of mindless running head first into danger. Years of pain that didn’t need to be caused. Years of recklnessness.

Eventually he comes home.

                         The Hub is rebuilt.

                                                       He reunites with Gwen.

                                                                                                       Normality.

Except it never can be. There are ghosts in this Hub. It doesn’t matter that it was re-built. It doesn’t matter that technically these ghosts have never seen these surroundings. There’s an Owen in the med-bay, a Tosh babbling at her desk, and a Ianto in the tourism office. They won’t let themselves be forgotten, will they?

And now, ten years on from the day he lost Ianto Jones, he finds himself sitting by a certain grave with a bunch of flowers in his lap. The first time he’s been able to bring himself to do so.

                         “It’s been a while.” Jack says from where he sits cross legged by the headstone. He’s been sitting there for a while now but this is the first time he can bring himself to speak. “I’m about to do a lot of talking and I know we didn’t actually do a lot of that when you were around. Which means there are a lot of words to catch up on so I’m going to need you to stay quiet, alright? Shouldn’t be hard to do.” He forces out a chuckle. The tears are already springing forward into his eyes.

                         “Ianto Jones you were special.” Jack nods. “I… refused to let anyone into my life over the years. The pain of losing people didn’t seem worth getting close to them. I vowed to myself, Ianto I really did, I vowed I would never let myself love someone ever again. I didn’t exactly bargain for you.”

There’s a long pause after that. Jack looks down at his lap.

                         “I love you. There I said it.” Jack nods determinedly, nostrils flaring as tears start their journey down his cheeks. “Sorry it took ten years to say. Doesn’t mean I didn’t back then though. I did love you. I just wasn’t ready to let myself. Guess I shouldn’t have waited so long, huh?”

Another pause and Jack doesn’t know what to say. They never talked about this kind of thing before, it’s even harder now when one half can’t talk back. Jack lets his head tip forward into his hands, his palms dragged down his face as he mentally kicks himself for not having prepared something beforehand.

                         “You probably just want me to spit it out right? Or by now you would have told me to shut up and you would have kissed me just a bit harder than necessary—not that I’d complain.” It’s a laugh now, as he raises his head again and focuses his eyes on the gravestone with a sigh.

                         “I wanted to thank you Ianto Jones, that’s really all. A lot of rambling to get there I realised but it’s hard to turn on the charm when I can’t see your face.” Jack smiles sadly. “Thank you. For everything. For being you. I didn’t want anyone knowing about me you see Ianto. I… used to be afraid. Horribly afraid. That maybe if people knew I couldn’t die that they wouldn’t care about me. Got proved once or twice in the past and after that I kept it secret. You were one hell of an exception to that rule Ianto Jones. I am immortal-- and you’d still throw yourself in front of me. You’d still be there when I died. You were so… incredibly caring Ianto. I couldn’t quite believe my luck.                          “So I told you more. I told you about my life, about the Time Agency, about every trip with the Doctor. I told you stories that will never see the light of day again. They will die with you Ianto, and that’s okay. That’s the way it should be.” Tears are streaming down his face now. Jack doesn’t bother to wipe them away.

                         “I was afraid of love. I was scared to let myself get close to someone but with you I couldn’t help myself. It was like something pulled me towards you. Something that wouldn’t let go until I could call you mine. Being immortal isn’t easy—though you could argue being dead is probably harder. I won’t fight you on that. But I know that everyone I get close to will leave. One way or another.” A sob. It chokes him. His voice from now one is broken and tired. He breathes heavily through sniffs but doesn’t once wipe those tears away. Ianto deserves these emotions.

                         “But you were so worth it, Ianto. You were worth every pain in this universe. And we should have had so long together. A good fifty years to go.” Jack cries. “I was going to watch you grow old. I was going to tease you about going grey. I was going to be there, Ianto, and you were going to be the first one in thousands of years that I let myself do that with. I promise you that.”

Jack’s face is streaked. His eyes bright red and puffy. Finally, he gets to his feet. The flowers are taken from his lap and placed by the headstone of the grave. He allows himself some time to stare at the inscription before taking a step backwards.

A shaky breath is taken as his mouth moves to form words. None of them are right so he fumbles silence for a moment before he sobs loudly and finally speaks.

           “I want you come home, Ianto Jones.”                                                                              He begs.

                                                                                                       “Please…”

#tw suicide #blipintiime; i spent my whole life running then one day all of the sudden there was you #janto; can we maybe drop the 'sir' now? #ianto jones; i take it all back but not him! #captain jack harkness #self; used to be a poster boy when i was a kid

[enderon]

21, 13, 11 for the torchwood asks!

21. Stories you'd like to see?

First and foremost, I wanna see a Ianto and Tosh duo adventure. They're both just so good, especially together, and I just know it would be so very much fun, especially cause they're both, arguably, the most functional members of the team, so we could get some really high stakes. And also they're both very snarky and also sweet and play off of each other so well.

Secondly, I want more stories of the team between season 1 and 2. I'm very happy that we have 'Kaleidescipe' and got to see how they all reacted immediately following Jack's disappearance and how they decided Gwen would be in charge, but I just want more, it was way too short. Maybe even a whole story about what they were getting up to during the year that never was, expedition to the Himalayas and all.

The last one is really just a completely self-indulgence thing, and I highly doubt we would ever get this, but a story that brings Ianto back? Even if it was like an alternate universe Ianto, like Yvonne in the new seasons (from my ubderstanding). I just, I want him back, he didnt deserve to die when he did for the horrendous reasons he did. Theres so much to him and it's really like they finally let him be confident and happy just to RIP everything away from him again. Let him be alive and happy damnit!!

13. Books?

My number one Torchwood book has to be 'The Undertaker's Gift'. I know a lot of people have their issues with it, and it most certainly does have issues, but I just absolutely love the constant foreboding feeling and genuinely high stakes involved in it. Honestly, I wish that our pen-ultimate conflict of Children of Earth had been something like this instead. It just, always gets my adrenaline pumping to read it. Also cause that part where Jack talks about killing Nazis. That's pretty awesome.

My second would have to be Risk Assessment, another controversial one. I dunno, the whole premise of Jack being petulant cause he can't boss this crazy woman around is just so funny to me. Theres also several extremely soft and good Janto moments in it, as well as letting Gwen have some fun and shine quite a bit. I'll agree that it still has its issues, but I find it fun.

My third would have to be 'Consequences'. It's just a really nice collection of really good stories, what more can I say?

11. Big Finish audio dramas?

Number 1 place absolutely has to go to 'Broken' cause I'm a weak and predictable bitch. Not only do I love it for finally letting us see the actual start of Ianto and Jack's relationship, but as someone who loves Ianto I love that it showed us all the little behind the scenes moments and what he was actually going through after the events of 'Cyberwoman'. It's just top notch stuff that also works to build on Ianto's character so very well.

Second place has to then go to 'Outbreak', cause he doesnt want a sudo zombie apocalypse style story? Fun plot, fun build up and usage of beloved characters, Norton is a fun addition, and having the situation once again be a situation of the evil of humanity is just top notch. Literally the only issue is the fact that I have to listen to people clawing their own skin off directly into my ears. That I could absolutely do without thank you very much.

Third place goes to 'The Last Beacon', once again cause I'm a predictable little bitch. What can I say? Ianto and Owen going on a buddy adventure out in the country and bonding with a nice happy ending? It's so good. Ianto and Owen are both so good, with Owen getting to reveal a bit more of his softer side while still being just as sharp and brutal as usual, and we don't have any deaths. It's all just very good, very feel good.

#torchwood

[avaantares]

Ask thingy: 1, 5, 8?

1.What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

Honestly? The Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler (Doctor Who). I know it’s (sort of) supported by canon, but I don’t see a relationship between a 900-year-old super-genius alien time-traveler war veteran with PTSD and a teenager who has never even lived on her own as anything resembling an equal partnership.

I have less of an issue with Rose/Metacrisis Doctor, because by that point she’s in her 20s, has more life experience, and has been running Torchwood for a couple of years, but that’s a far cry from 19-year-old Series 1 Rose who doesn’t even have any A Levels.

5. Do you have a NoTP in [insert fandom here]?

Ianto Jones/Owen Harper (Torchwood). That pairing just makes my skin crawl every time I see it. Owen is abusive, Ianto is passive-aggressive, they’re both suffering from major emotional trauma, and I can’t see anything healthy in throwing them together romantically.

Also, how dare you separate Ianto and Jack.

8. Unpopular opinion about [insert fandom here]?

(Doctor Who/Torchwood) I’ve written about this before, but here goes: I don’t think the Tenth Doctor treated Jack Harkness badly.

“Heresy!” I hear all the Torchwood fans cry. But no, wait, hear me out:

First, admittedly, the Ninth Doctor was pretty awful to Jack. Always taking verbal shots at him, prioritizing Rose over him, and ultimately abandoning him in a space station full of corpses and running away. Not a nice thing to do, especially to someone as loyal and devoted and ready to follow him into deadly peril as Jack.

When Jack finally catches up to him, Ten initially tries to flee Jack the same way his previous incarnation did, but circumstances don’t allow it. He’s forced to confront Jack as a Fixed Point, and as a person – and more importantly, to come to terms with what he’s done to Jack. And he does, and it changes their entire relationship dynamic.

For the first half of “Utopia,” Ten treats Jack like Nine did – superior, bordering on indifferent. In their reunion scene, Ten has a serious, slightly disapproving look on his face the whole time (except, predictably, when asked about Rose). In return, Jack is bitter, even a bit petulant (”Not if you’re blonde”). Though they immediately join forces when threatened, they are not exactly on the path to reconciliation.

The pivotal moment comes during their conversation while Jack’s in the radiation-flooded chamber: When they first start talking, that stern look is still on Ten’s face. He’s caught up in the discomfort (and perhaps guilt) of being near Jack, and he has no reason to assume anything has changed between them.

Jack, however, has been through a lot since the last time he was with the Doctor, and he’s come into his own. He no longer lets the Doctor treat him like a second-class companion; instead, he goes on the offensive: “And all that time, you knew,” he accuses. Ten responds with the infamous “you’re wrong” line, and tries to justify his behavior by citing the Time Lords and the fact that the TARDIS also reacted adversely to Jack. Jack makes no attempt to conceal his hurt and bitterness, and – most importantly – he actually calls the Doctor out on his nonsense. “So what you’re saying is, you’re prejudiced? Shame on you.”

This is the point at which Ten’s body language begins to change. He blinks like he’s processing something, smiles, and his verbal tone shifts. Rather than looking down his nose at Jack, he cocks his head, rubs his eyes, and smiles more when he speaks. There’s a different dynamic between them from this point on: Ten realizes he’s been kind of a jerk, and begins to recognize Jack as an equal rather than a subordinate. Jack accepts that the Doctor is fallible and, while he still trusts and loves him, he no longer hero-worships him. This puts them on a much more equal footing, which is evident almost immediately in the conversation: The Doctor opens up to Jack about what happened to Rose, and lets him see how affected he is by it. When Jack tries to sidestep his question about wanting to die, the Doctor gives Jack the same I’m-calling-you-out look that Jack shot him a moment before. He still teases Jack (”It’s the only man you’re ever gonna be happy with”), but it’s not in the harsh, almost nasty tone he used earlier in the episode (”Did I? Busy life. Move on.”).

By the end of the three-parter, the Doctor has reconciled fully with Jack, to the point of asking him to travel with him again. When Jack declines, Ten just accepts his decision, rather than arguing or make snide comments like Nine might have. He doesn’t even quibble that Jack is leaving him for Torchwood, because he has fully forgiven Jack for his involvement with that organization – and for the Tenth “no second chances” Doctor, this is a HUGE step, as he still considers Torchwood responsible for the loss of Rose. I think a lot of fans miss the significance of this! Ten is not built for forgiveness; it’s the fundamental tenet of this incarnation, stated outright in “The Christmas Invasion.” The fact that he can accept a Torchwood under Jack’s leadership says volumes about his trust in and respect for Jack.

The next time they meet (”The Stolen Earth” arc), they’re still on good terms and work well together, and the Doctor is actually excited to meet the members of Jack’s Torchwood team, showing how far he’s come since his outrage in “The Sound of Drums.” And Jack is one of a very few people that Ten visits on his farewell tour in “The End of Time,” so it’s clear they still have a fairly close relationship.

Did the Doctor treat Jack badly? Yes, at first. But then he realized his mistake and changed his behavior, treating Jack as an equal rather than a mere hanger-on. Their reconciliation brought about a stronger, more balanced friendship based on mutual respect.

I think Ten and Jack were far closer and understood each other better than Nine and Jack ever did, and you’ll never convince me otherwise.

opinion>

#torchwood #doctor who #ask thingy #captain jack harkness #fandom #Anonymous

[agentdammers]

Grand Torchwood Rewatch 1x12 & 13

IF YOU FALL I WILL CATCH U I’LL BE WAITING........ T I M E A F T E R T I M E

One season down...... It’s a Finale Double Whammy, just as it aired back in 2007! Crumbs of Jack Lore drop into our laps, some absolute plot bullshit takes place, an old man is there!!! fuck it let’s get this over with

content warn: pisstaking, fun having, oh! plot bullshit!, i absolutely lose my fucking mind, Owen Harper!!! I Won’t Hesitate Bitch

1x12 “captain jack harkness”

- a thought before we dive in, but man owen gets A LOT of story stuff over the course of the 2 seasons he’s in right??? like more story stuff than ianto and tosh combined. interesting

- AH FUCK!!! A VOTE SAXON POSTER. REMEMBER WHEN?

- so..... here’s a thing. “Ohhh people have heard music from a derelict building! better send torchwood in!” how... does that come about? Could it be squatters or something??? fuck it, let’s send in a Secret Government Agency! they’ll sort it out. i mean we don’t know what they do exactly but i imagine at least one of them is a ghostbuster or something lmao, whatever

- OH NO THIS CREEPY OLD BITCH!!! i forgot how scary he looked!! god, this dude must be a million, or a vampire, or likely both

- tosh’s eyes get SO BIG WHEN THAT GUY ASKS HER TO DANCE I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!! she’s the best one!!!!!!

- wish i could wipe this episode entirely from my memory because that fucking reveal when the Real jack harkness introduces himself? F    U    C   K

- speaking of tosh, finding it extremely unconvincing that she, a tech nerd, would go out with a laptop with an almost completely flat battery... like, c’mon. she would be prepared

- Gwen cooper, a fully adult woman: haha me and my friends;;;; came here 4 a dare;;; cos its spooky lol....

- the camera on this show has me fucking SCREEEAMING “He wears a cravat.” THERE’S A DRAMATIC SLOW MOTION ZOOM IN ON THIS GUYS FUCKING CRAVAT AND THEN ON IANTO’S FACE LOOKING AT IT AND ITS ALL IN FUCKING EARNEST LET ME DIE!!!!!!!!!

- the dance they’re at is called “KISS THE BOYS GOODBYE DANCE”, which is what my finishing move would be called if i was a character in a fighting game

- ianto and owen slapfighting over their shit girlfriend experiences fucking owns genuinely lmao

- tosh pops the top off a tin and then cuts her hand open on the obviously blunt fucking lid?????? jesus christ

- “I’m tired of living in awe of the rift!!!” .....................first i’ve heard of it. I love that owen is talking as though the rift has been a major fucking factor throughout the entire series up until this point, rather than a thing that’s just been vaguely fucking referenced as the reason why a bunch of weird shit just seems to happen in cardiff. no, im not standing for this. You can’t pull out the rift at the eleventh hour and then talk about it as though it’s a Hugely Important plot device when the biggest role it’s had over the stretch of the entire 11 Whole Ass episodes prefacing this was to allow the plane to come through in “out of time”. y’all have barely mentioned the rift this entire time and now you want to act like its the hellmouth??? eat my ass!!!!!!

- and continuing on that note: apparently they’ve had a machine that can manipulate the rift in the hub......... the entire goddamn time. but no one thought to MENTION it i guess!!!!!!!! pfft, why would THAT be important??? right???? right?????

this plot bullshit almost makes me feel bad for how harsh i was about “cyberwoman” but, i will admit.... despite this Absolute Fucking Nonsense, i do find the jack and tosh storyline in this episode really fun and interesting. its just unfortunate that all the stuff arrrrround that is some kind of fic scrawled in the back of a kid’s math book.

- also the size of owen’s fucking NADS in this episode!!!!!!!! “Don’t compare yourself to me.” SAYS MAN CRYING OVER THE GIRL HE KNEW FOR ONE (1!) (SINGULAR) WEEK!!!! as opposed to ianto’s longterm girlfriend being turned into a monster and eventually murdered by his own team!!!! Like, i understand that’s owen’s problem actually goes beyond that, and its not so much about diane herself but about the fact that he let himself feel close to someone again after his fiancee died but for us, The Audience, watching this as it airs... we haven’t unlocked owen’s tragic backstory yet. and without knowing all that it just makes owen look really bad and like a huge fucking tool lmfao.

- NEVERMIND THE END IS GAY AND SAD AND Y’KNOW!!!!!! i am a man of simple pleasures, at heart, and so... i’ll let it slide. jack meeting his namesake knowing that he’s going to die and them having a moment is more of the kind of emotional content we would get in episodes of doctor who, and its Just Right

- in honesty, theres a bunch of stuff about this ep that i DO like. that tosh gets a prominant role for a change, while gwen gets to do fuck all. the whole Real Jack story. owen gets shot and pops a tit out at the end. its just unfortunate thats its all wrapped up in this rift thing thats been wheeled out last minute for a Big Season Finale with no real foreshadowing or build up to it at all lmao. but, moving on...............................................................................................

1x13 “end of days”

- RHYS BUNS DETECTED, A SOUND WAY TO KICK OFF ANY EPISODE

- lovely reading voice ianto’s got..... i also like owen acting up to make sure we know that they remember him being shot in the shoulder last episode lol.

- “owen, if you open the rift you’ll break it” (owen opens the rift anyway) “owen, you opening the rift broke it” (owen GASPS IN DISMAY, ME??? REALLY?) yes bitch open your ears

- “So are we going to sit around crying into our lattes or are we gonna do something about it?” OWEN..... IS THIS. SUPPOSED TO SOUND BADASS I.... GENUINELY CANT TELL? IT SOUNDS BAD, OWEN

- jack was so likeable last ep now he’s a DICK. gwen calls him out on how he talked to owen and he’s really fucking catty at HER for no reason at all????

- i haaaaaaaaate this scene in the hospital where a Mystery Illness has all the fucking symptoms of the bubonic plague but apparently every doctor in the entire hospital never did high school level history and are all incapable of recognising it. if fucking *i* know what symptoms of the bubonic plague are im sure they didn’t need Absolute Brain Genius Owen Harper who is seemingly the only person with any sense in cardiff to come in and diagnose it. i also hate how owen just like casually mentions to the doctor yep, this is caused by people falling through time dude yknow!!! like they do!! expect more of this to keep happening probably idk!!

- “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU OPENED THE RIFT WITH THIS MACHINE WE HAVE THAT’S FOR UHHHHHHHH UHHHHHHH OPENING THE RIFT *big fuck off galaxy brain*” thats basically this episode.

- i love that owen has followed jack all this time but NOW in a crisis is the time to actually lose it and start questioning his authority bc they dont Actually know who jack is like???? you’ve been fine not knowing this entire time before??? thats not to say that jack isn’t an entire dumbass himself. he expects them all to follow him blindly and its so creepy. he’s like a cult leader, and as they all have Torchwood Stockholm Syndrome that ive mentioned in previous episode run downs they’ve all just gone along with it.

- owen having a little cry on the way out is such a Good scene bc he puts on such a brave and defiant front tho 💕💖💘💕

- i dont know why the really quick flashback to diane flying off in the plane made me lose my fucking mind, its just like “LMAO IN CASE U FORGOT: SHE WAS THE PLANE LADY. I KNOW SHE WAS ONLY IN FOR LIKE TWO MINUTES, BUT DONT WORRY ABOUT IT.”

- gwen for fucks sake!!!!!!!! not again!!!!! after all the cryptic shit and lies she’s told rhys up until this point, she now knocks him out and locks him in a cell and STILL offers no explanation. this poor fucking dude!!!!!!!!! and it’s about to get even worse for him...

- the way gwen screams “RHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEUUUUUUUURRRRRSSSSS”

- YES EVERYONE REBEL AGAINST JACK!!!!!!! FUCK THIS DUDE!!!! you’re doing what a creepy old dude who is Absolutely Definitely evil wants, but still

- why does gwen start doing shit on the computer when toshiko, the computer expert, is standing right there, like.............

- JACK TRYING TO SMACKTALK TO ENTIRE GANG LIKE HIS OWN CLOSET ISN’T CHOCKFUL OF FUCKING SKELETONS

- i forget, does anyone know jack’s immortal apart from gwen? or was it just the shock of owen actually Shooting Their Boss? the only onscreen death i can recall of his after suzie shot him was in “cyberwoman”

- god, minutes ago they were all like FUCK JACK!!!! JACK DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO SAVE US AFTER ALL!!! and now theyre all crawling back asking jack to save them all from cgi pig Ganon and its just..... a lot to happen, over the space of about half an hour.

- the ending is so anticlimatic and also why does sucking all the Yummy Life Energy out of jack make abaddon die?????????? Though in its defence... after like 3 bowls of cereal, i too am like OUCH OOF MY BONES

- aaaaaaaaaand rhys is back! will he get treated any better from here on out? i dont remember!!! guess we’ll see.

- bit much of gwen who’s actually known jack the shortest time of them all to be like NO, let ME be with him uwuwuwuuw

- ahhh!!! ianto smelling jack’s coat ;_;

- aaaand jack’s back too. AND HE GETS TO HOLD A CRYING OWEN? FOR ME? oh you shouldn’t have! this Almost makes up for all that rift plot bullshit (almost. i still know what u did.)

- ANDDDDD OH SHIT. FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE GOOD ENDING. HERE COMES THE TARDIS. FUCKING YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...............................and there it goes. one season down. sorry this one was so long!!! i love and appreciate anyone to takes the time to read these posts. thank u!!!!

#grand torchwood rewatch 2018 #LONG POST #i got mad abt plot shit A Lot during this finale

[agent-jones]

In Defence of Gwendolyn Elizabeth Cooper

Okay, I want to start this out with a few DISCLAIMERS. First, this is probably going to be a long post, so buckle in. Second, I just want to say upfront that I DO NOT CONDONE the mistakes Gwen has made. Defending and understanding her are far different from actually condoning what she’s done and I figured I would put that blanket statement right here at the top. I know she did Bad Things. This isn’t to excuse that, it’s to explain, maybe, why she did what she did and perhaps people can gain a new perspective on Gwen Cooper in the process.

Okay. Leggo.

I asked for people to send their reasonings for not liking Gwen and I did get a few responses, so THANK YOU to those who messaged me! Everyone was very polite about it and I’m very grateful for that. The overwhelming reason people seem to hate Gwen is how she acted in regards to her relationship with RHYS. There is a lot to unpack there so I’m going to put all of the Rhys stuff in one section, and then move on to the other reasons I’ve seen about the fandom.

Rhys

Cheating on Rhys with Owen.

The thing about Torchwood is that they deal with the shittiest parts of the Universe. Suzie was right about that. Gwen came in not really knowing what she was getting herself into. Suddenly, she’s thrown into this chaotic, messy environment where she’s almost killed on basically a daily basis and she comes home from work and she can’t talk about it. She has to pretend to Rhys that she spent the day pushing paperwork, when actually the deadliest alien in the Universe tried to cut her head open with scary conversion tools and a member of their team ended up being the reason for it. She deals with trauma on a daily basis and the one person she should be able to talk to, who should be able to hold her and let her fall apart to him, isn’t allowed to know. Of course she feels isolated, wouldn’t you? Our partners are supposed to be the people we go to for support and help, but she literally cannot tell him a single thing about her life anymore. But she gets home and she has to it there and think about everything that scares her and all of the horrible things she sees, the death and destruction and tragedy, and she can’t say a single thing about it.

So, of course the idea of being with someone she can talk to is tempting, being with someone who shares her experiences and can truly empathise with her fears and help her through this new, and tragedy-filled, way of life. Why wouldn’t she want that? Owen offers it. Owen. Who knows she has a boyfriend, who literally says “I torture people in happy relationships,” comes to her and says “you can share these things with me.” And lost and unable to talk to anyone else but him, she gives into the temptation. Because, maybe this is better for her than having a partner who can’t be allowed to know the new Gwen Cooper: Torchwood Operative. Maybe she can finally have someone who will hold her and help her through things she can’t share with her boyfriend.

Flirting with/“Throwing herself at” Jack

Not going to lie, this one really bugs me when I see it. Why? Because Jack Harkness instigates pretty much every flirtation they have. The gun range scene: Jack sensually moving against her body to “show her the proper way to shoot.” Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: that cellar scene, where he caresses her arm and gives her this line about coming back for her [ after he had just said the same thing to Ianto so ]. Her wedding: the nostrovite was the one to lean in to kiss Gwen, the one to say “sometimes you meet someone who knocks your world off--” whatever the wording is. That nostrovite, using Jack, knew that he flirts with her like that, for it was the one making all of the moves. 

Jack is this enigmatic, BEAUTIFUL man who swoops into the life of Gwen Cooper, shows her that the Universe is bigger than anyone could imagine, and flirts with her, looks at her like she’s the most special human being on Earth. It’s no surprise she got a crush. It happens. But never, does she throw herself at him, in fact he always seems to be the one trying to do something, even though he also knows she has a boyfriend and consistently reminds her to keep hold of that life. Yes, she kissed him in Day One. But you know who else kissed Jack Harkness even though she had a boyfriend? Martha Jones. People make mistakes. It was the heat of the moment where Jack saved this girl that Gwen cared for and was so scared was going to die, she saw Jack act gentle and kind and yes, she made a mistake. But, it happens.

If you’re going to crucify Gwen for making very human mistakes such as this, it’s unfair to crucify her and not the men who played just as big of a role in it. They’re in no way innocent and to turn Gwen into this horrid, cheating slut and not condemn the men for knowingly throwing themselves at her despite her relationship status is really, quite frankly, sexist and a double-standard. 

Drugging Rhys

A horrible decision. Wrong. Yes, she did something incredibly invasive and absolutely not okay. She did it because she was spiraling. The thing with Owen had ended and I truly believed Gwen realised that she needed and loved Rhys, that he was the man for her and she needed to hold onto that. But, she was still holding back secrets, there were still things she couldn’t tell him. She was feeling guilty and wanted to tell Rhys the truth. But, if he left her because of it? That’s it. She loses her life outside of Torchwood, she loses the one thing keeping her grounded on Earth as the Universe tears into her at work. Of course she’s terrified and yes, it made her do something incredibly not okay. She took away Rhys’s ability to choose for himself.

She shows remorse for this, obviously, when she refuses to retcon Rhys at the end of Meat. She won’t do that to him again, won’t take away his right to know what he knows. And then again at their wedding. Jack offers them both retcon and Gwen says no, no secrets anymore. In that moment, Rhys’s face almost seemed disappointed that they weren’t going to forget that hellish day, that maybe he wanted to remember it in a way that didn’t involve aliens and their families almost being torn to shreds. But, Gwen has learned from her mistake. She won’t do it again.

Also. Gwen is not the only team member who has done something like that, in fact they all have:

Owen: took away the agency of two people by spraying them with a perfume that made them want to have sex with him. Two people who didn’t want to before they were drugged. That is date r*** and it is very bad. But, Owen is forgiven by the fandom for it. He’s loved and not bashed.

Jack: literally retcons anyone who talks to him for too long.

Tosh: dug around in the inner-most private thoughts of the people around her, invaded the deepest crevices of their minds and peered in on their secrets. This is absolutely not okay.

Ianto: clearly took advantage of and manipulated Jack in order to save Lisa. Got two innocent people killed, nearly got the entire team killed, and then allowed Jack to be given to slave traders and killed, before changing his mind and rescuing him. These are really horrible things, and yet he is the fan favourite. 

Gwen has done no more wrong than the rest of the team. This is the point of Torchwood: flawed human beings doing what they can to save the world and that “flawed” descriptor is for Gwen too. 

“She’s a Bitch”

Oh I’ve heard this one a few times and it always confuses me. She’s a bitch? When? When was Gwen ever mean to anyone? 

When she thought the thing about Tosh’s boots over jeans look being out of fashion? First, it was her private thought that Tosh had no business listening to. Second, it wasn’t thought in a mean-spirited way, she was simply making a fashion observation. We all do it. It does make us bitches to point out when things have gone out of fashion. Tosh was more of a bitch to Gwen when she found out about her and Owen in Countrycide “didn’t take you long to get your feet under the table.” That’s a bitchy and petty thing to say, but no one is calling Tosh a bitch.

Is she ever a bitch to Rhys? Not that I remember [ of course beyond the everything up there ]. But, there are moments where Rhys is a total ASS to her. Her new boss runs up to her saying there’s an emergency and that she’s needed, what does Rhys do? He screams at her “SIT THE FUCK DOWN, GWEN”  in front of her boss. That is not an okay thing to do, ever. Then, there’s the moment in Adrift when he says something like “sometimes I really hate you, Gwen.” He says this to his wife because she’s going through something very hard on her that is making her question the Universe and because it’s swaying her decision on if she wants to bring kids into the world, he says he hates her. At this point, he knows what she sees, knows what she goes through on a daily basis and doesn’t bother to take into consideration that she’s stressed and traumatised when trying to get her to make huge life decisions.

Gwen has emotions, but she’s never flat out mean to people, but there have been times where others have been cruel to her, and they aren’t hated for it.

“What she said at the end of Meat was uncalled for”

This is what she says:

GWEN: But none of you have any partners outside of this. JACK: But we understand how you feel. GWEN: No, you don't. No, you don't, Jack. You all think it's cold and lonely out there. But it isn't for me because I have him. 

She isn’t wrong. She doesn’t say anything cruel about the team. She points out the fact that they can’t understand what it’s like to have to hide her ENTIRE life from her partner. Jack and Ianto have a relationship, they’re partners yes, but they can actually talk about how hard the job is, they can talk about Torchwood and the shit they see and how it affects them. Is it so wrong for Gwen to say they can’t understand how she feels that she can’t? The entire team apart from her have been so entwined with Torchwood for so long that they don’t have lives outside of it, and that’s what she’s saying and she’s not wrong. Why hate her for pointing out the truth because she wants to be able to talk to the person she loves about the harder parts of her life?

“She acts superior to the team”

This one I see a lot. That people seem to think she somehow acts like she’s better than them, that she acts righteous somehow. But, that’s not what she’s doing. I’ve made a post about this before, but I’ll sum it up here. Jack hired Gwen because he needed someone with a new perspective, someone who could see how what they do affects civilians and help them use that to work better. He brought her in to remind them that they need to do better by the people of Cardiff. 

And that’s what she does,

She calls them out for being callous about Carys because that’s what Jack hired her for. The girl was dying and to her, it seemed like they didn’t care and so she spoke up, like Jack had asked her to do. She realises that she’s wrong in a way and she adjusts how she goes about it. Jack consistently reminds her why she was brought on, to call them out when they needed it and to remind them that there are human beings that are affected by what they do and they should care. And then when she does that, the fandom hates her for it. Don’t hate her for doing the job she was brought in to do.

Her Miracle Day speech

The Gwen in Miracle Day is not the same Gwen who peered over that parking garage barrier to spy on Torchwood. She saw the worst of the Universe, she watched as so many people died around her. Her friends all died horrific deaths. She was yanked by Jack into this whirlwind of a life, into the chaos and destruction that was Torchwood-- and then he left her. 

GWEN: Are you ever coming back, Jack? JACK: What for? GWEN: Me. 

He says nothing and leaves anyway. She begged her best friend to not leave her, after the last of her friends was killed, and he basically said she wasn’t worth staying for. How could she not be broken after that? As two people very close to me have said [ credit to @cxptained​ and @agent-sato​ ]: everyone else on the team was brought into Torchwood already broken, Torchwood took them in and put them back together again. Gwen came into Torchwood whole. She had a life and was happy. She lived, but she was SHATTERED. Torchwood took her and broke her. 

So yes, she says something that is horrible. She says that when everyone else died and she survived, she felt better than them. But sometimes we have thoughts that we don’t control, we have thoughts that we know are wrong. She knows it’s wrong. Eve’s acting? You can tell that she had those thoughts and that she felt horrible for having them.

Not to mention, she says this as she’s trying to get her baby daughter back from strangers who have kidnapped her. She’s desperate and terrified and angry and her daughter is in danger. Her mental space is horrible right now. She was abandoned by Jack, broken by Torchwood and when he appears again and she’s dragged back in? Her daughter is put in danger. But she also missed Torchwood and Jack. She’s terrified and lost and conflicted and she said something bad. But she knows she is wrong.

And So...

Gwen Cooper is a human being. She is a character in a show where ALL of the main characters are written to be flawed and complicated and to make mistakes while saving the world. She was put through so much and it seems as though she’s blamed for the fact that it changed her and led her to making decisions she may not have made had Torchwood not dragged her in.

She deserves more than how she’s treated by the fans.

#torchwood #gwen cooper #ianto jones #captain jack harkness #owen harper #toshiko sato #rhys williams #long post #; y'ALL THIS IS SO MESSILY WRITTEN BUT I HOPE YOU GET IT #; idk i hope maybe this at least gets some people to see her differently #; maybe?

[luddyskrimsonbootytrash]

Domestic Accident [Janto Fanfic]

Disclaimer: Contains Sexual Themes and stuff you shouldn’t do. xP 

It had been a rough day. Ianto got back home way after midnight. He was extremely tired but since he hadn't eaten anything during the day, he entered the kitchen instead of the bedroom.

They had been hunting a nasty alien which nearly killed him. Jack saved his life, by sacrificing his own. Special to others probably, but not for him. He didn't even dare to think it was something special. Jack would have died for the others, too.

Ianto got some eggs and bacon from the fridge and threw them into a frying pan. His stomach was grumbling even more with that smell in his nose. He didn't even wait for the food to finish properly, he just placed it on a plate and sat down on the table. Right when he wanted to take the first bite, his doorbell rang. He let out an undefined curse and stood up to open the door.

Jack was leaning in the door case with a grin on his lips. "Oh good, you're still awake."

"I was about to eat something."

"Don't you want to invite you savior for dinner?"

Ianto stepped aside to let him in. Jack entered the kitchen and sat down at the table.

"Very spartan food."

"I don't need a feast at 1am."

"Maybe you do." Jack grabbed his waist, pulling him on his lap.

"Jack, I really need to eat something first. I haven't eaten all day long." Despite his words, Ianto gave his lover a long kiss.

"Oh, I don't think so. You'll get languorous, if you eat now. And we don't want that." Jack grinned at him.

"What do we want then?" Ianto smiled back at him. His hunger for Jack was stronger than the one for food.

"I've noticed something the last time I visited you."

"Oh?" Ianto stroked through Jacks hair. "What could that be?"

Jack laughed quietly before looking back at him. "You've got a hook at the ceiling over your bed. Want to tell me something?"

"Oh. That." Ianto scratched his head. "It's not as exciting as you might think. My nephew made a dreamcatcher for me when he still visited Kindergarten and my sister placed the hook there without asking me. It broke pretty fast though. David isn't the best one at crafting."

"You've got a nephew?" Jack rose an eyebrow. "You never told me."

"Didn't I?" Ianto sighed. "Well, you didn't tell me about your family either."

"That's true. There are more important things to discuss. Like... is that hook strong enough to hold you?"

"I don't know. We'll have to find out."

Jack laughed and lifted Ianto up, carrying him to the bedroom. "I've got a present for you, you know?", he grinned while jumping onto the bed with him.

"Is it in your pants?"

"It is. But it's not what you think." Jack put a hand in his pocket and pulled out a pair of sturdy handcuffs. They weren't separated by a chain and looked like they'd been used for torturing in another life... to hang people up on walls.

"How romantic and sweet of you." Ianto smiled.

"Oh, that's totally in right now. You should try it on." Jack grinned.

"Shouldn't I change first?" Ianto slowly began to unbutton his shirt.

"Oh, yeah." Jack licked his lips for a second. "That's a good look. I like that look."

"Maybe you want to help me... to complete it. As my... fashion advisor." Ianto stroked over his chest while saying the last word.

"Oh, I have an advice for you..." Jack grabbed his hips and pulled him into a hot kiss while opening his pants with one hand. "There are definitely outdated", he murmured against his lover's lips. "Put them off."

"If you say so." With a bit of Jacks help, Ianto kicked his pants down to the floor.

"That's better." Jack nodded. "But not quite perfect." He pulled the waistband of Ianto's briefs and let it snap back on his skin. It let him gasp a little.

"So, what's your advice?"

"Off with those sweaty underwear. Nobody wants to see that. Seriously, why didn't you go showering?"

Ianto rolled his eyes. "Because I wanted to eat first but then I got interrupted."

Jack shook his head. "Honestly. You should have known that I would come."

"I never know." Ianto crossed his arms. "You come and go whenever you want."

"Sometimes you won't let me come."

That made Ianto smile again. "Oh yes. That's always funny."

Jack laughed and laid an arm around him. "You're a little sadist."

"I love the expressions you make and how you curse me."

"Do you think it's smart to say that while I'm planning to cuff you onto the ceiling?"

"Oh yes." Ianto smirked. "Don't disappoint me."

"You know me." Jack pulled down Ianto's briefs.

"Oh yes." Ianto put off his shirt and was now completely naked. He folded his hands and gave Jack the most innocent look, as if it was his first time. Of course, Ianto was everything but innocent.

"Give me your hands." Jack grinned and cuffed the younger one up.

"I hope they aren't infected with ancient bacteria. They look like you've kept them since the dark ages." Ianto looked at his hands.

"Actually...!"

"You know what? I don't want to know." Ianto smiled a little. "And I don't want to know how many have worn them for you."

"You sound so unmotivated. What is it?" Jack rested a hand on Ianto's shoulder.

"I'm not unmotivated. Just get me up there."

Jack laughed. "That's what I want to hear."

Ianto stood up on the bed and stretched his arms to the hook. He had to go tiptoe.

Jack connected it with the cuffs briefly. "Feeling comfortable?"

"Depends on how you define comfortable. It's not like I'm lying on a couch but I'm pretty turned on, yes."

Jack laughed again. "I can see that." He winked.

"Enjoying the view?" Ianto lifted an eyebrow.

"Hang in there, baby!" Jack laughed.

"Really?" Ianto sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Sorry. Here comes my excuse." Jack opened his pants.

"It has to be a good one for that lame line."

"Hey." Jack opened his arms and tilted his head. "My excuses are always exquisite."

"Then why are you still talking?"

Jack laughed again, grabbed Ianto's hips and lifted him up. He didn't waste time in taking off his clothes, he just freed his already hard cock and inserted it right into Ianto's butt.

The younger one screamed since he was completely unprepared. But Jack knew that he didn't mind. He just needed a few seconds to get used to it and Jack used them for some hot neck kisses.

"Fuck...", Ianto murmured. A sign that he was more than ready.

Slowly, Jack started moving. The cuffs squeaked a little but all in all it seemed to work so he started moving faster.

Ianto moaned out loud and leaned back his head. "Fuck! Yes!"

Jack snickered and grabbed his hips tighter. It was a bit challenging to keep the balance on the shaky mattress but that didn't bother him. He even increased the speed again.

But that was a little too much. The hook couldn't bear that pressure anymore and broke down from the ceiling. Jack couldn't react fast enough, so Ianto bumped his head to the wall and fell down. The yank forced Jack on the knees as well, since he still was connected with his lover. He landed on him very ungentle.

"Ianto! Are you okay?" Jack looked up at his face.

"I... think so." Ianto seemed rather surprised from the sudden fall.

"Okay, then let's..." Jack stumbled as he saw blood running down Ianto's head. "Fuck!"

"We are." Ianto smiled amused. "You should continue moving though."

"No, no, you're bleeding!"

"Am I? My head hurts a little..." Ianto wanted to touch his head, but of course he couldn't, since his hands were still cuffed.

"Wait." Jack slowly moved out of his lover and grabbed the keys to unlock the handcuffs.

"It's not that bad, Jack..."

"Shut up. I've heard many men saying that right before dying."

"I hope that was on the battlefield, not in their bedrooms."

"I once had sex with someone who died during it. It wasn’t my fault, I swear. But it was extremely awkward. I didn't know what to do."

Ianto smiled a little. 'Well, I'm not dead. I just bumped my head."

"And you're bleeding. I'm getting you first aid." Jack stood up and closed his pants.

"That's really unnecessary." Ianto shook his head and twitched a little. "Okay... it hurts a little more when I move."

"See?" Jack sighed and left the bedroom. He knew that Ianto kept his first-aid kit in the kitchen, though he didn't know why. He wasn't that bad at cooking.

Armed with a bandage and tissues Jack went back to the bedroom. Ianto was now sitting on the edge of the bed and pressed his hand on the wound.

"Did it get worse?"

"It won't stop bleeding."

"Let me have a look." Ianto put his hand down and did let Jack investigate the wound.

"Will I die?", he asked jokingly.

"It's a laceration. Do you feel dizzy or something?"

"A little."

Jack kneeled down in front of Ianto and looked him in the eyes. "Look, it's possible that you've got a mild concussion. Maybe you should go to the hospital."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No. I know some things about medicine, but I'm no doctor. I'll tie up the wound but you should definitely get checked as soon as possible."

"Okay." Ianto looked at him. "Could we please never use that hook again?"

Jack had to laugh. "Definitely not." He wrapped the bandage around Ianto's head and cleaned the blood off his face.

"Thank you." Ianto gave him a light smile and then carefully touched the bandage. "It hurts."

"You really should go and see a doctor."

"I can't drive like this. I'll have to wait until the busses go again."

"I'll drive you." Jack nodded.

"Really?" Ianto's smile got warm now.

"Yes, but only if you put on some clothes. I don't want to explain that to the doctor."

"Well, I'll have to tell him something about how it happened."

"Domestic accident."

"Rather domestic abuse."

The both had to laugh. Jack padded Ianto's shoulder and got up. "Now put on some clothes already."

"I never thought I'd ever hear you say that." Ianto got up and went to the closet.

"Me neither." Jack winked.

While walking down to the car Jack had to support Ianto since he felt dizzier with every move. When Jack started the engine he just closed his eyes and leaned back in the seat while the immortal got a little worried.

Finally, they entered the hospital. It was empty and quiet and had that horror movie flair.

"Hello?", Jack shouted. "Anybody there?"

A pretty young nurse appeared in the entrance hall. In every other situation Jack definitely would have flirted with her.

"Can I help you?", she asked.

"My friend here needs some. He bumped his head really hard and probably has got a concussion. I'm no doctor but I thought it'd be better, if he got checked." Jack took a brief look at Ianto.

"Doctor Greenhill is still here and we have no other emergencies tonight. He'll surely take a look at him." The nurse gave Jack a light smile. "Please follow me."

"Pleasure." Jack couldn't resist to wink at her. She didn't respond and lead the way to the doctor's office.

"Please wait outside for a second." She got into the office and Jack looked at Ianto. He got a little pale and leaned his head against his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Jack carefully stroke to his hair, attentive not to touch the wound.

"Yes, I am. I'm just tired. I want to go to bed after this."

"Of course." Jack placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.

The nurse left the office and looked at them. "The doctor is ready for you now. Please come in."

"Thank you." Jack gave her a warm smile before entering the office with Ianto.

Doctor Greenhill was a middle-aged man with a warm smile and round glasses. He shook their hands and they introduced themselves to each other. Then the doctor invited them to take a seat on two chairs in front of his desk. They took the offer.

"So, Mr Jones, please tell me what happened."

"Domestic accident", Ianto murmured while trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Could you be more precise about that?"

"... Fell down from a ladder."

"What were you doing on a ladder at 1am?"

"... Painting the walls."

Doctor Greenhill folded his hands. "I have got medical confidentiality. There is no need in lying to me."

Ianto didn't dare to look him in the eyes. His cheeks turned a little red. "We tried a very dumb method to have sex."

"You don't want to know how many people come here because of that reason." The doctor let out a sigh.

"Oh, I do want to know." Jack grinned.

"Well, I don't have to ask whose idea it was then." Doctor Greenhill looked at Jack with a strict glance.

"Hey, it could have worked!"

"Jack, please." Ianto shook his head and held it immediately.

"Let's take a look at that." The doctor stood up and carefully removed Ianto's bandage. He thoroughly examined the wound and then applied a big patch on it before he sat down on his chair again.

"It's just a laceration. It should heal without any complications. But you should definitely go to bed. You look like you are about to fall asleep every moment."

"I also feel like that. Thank you." Ianto stood up and shook the doctor's hand.

"You're welcome. Take care and don't agree to every stupid idea of your boyfriend."

"I can hear you, you know?" Jack pouted.

"I know." Doctor Greenhill smiled at Jack and shook hands with him, too.

They left the hospital and Jack had to laugh. "Oh, thank god... I was scared, you know? But it's just a laceration."

"He... he thought we were a couple."

Jack abruptly stopped and looked at him. "Yes...?"

"It... felt kinda good." Ianto carefully took Jack's hands. "You were so worried about me. Is... is this still just an affair or is it... something more?"

"Ianto..." Jack squeezed his hands. "You do mean a lot to me and I couldn't bear to lose you. I know that I will but... I just hope to see you grow old, you know? Us... that won't work forever. You deserve someone to grow old with."

"I don't want that. I only want you."

"I can't die. I can't age..." Jack brushed his face with one hand. "It's just..."

"I know that I can't stay with you forever. But I at least want to stay with you for the rest of my life."

Jack couldn't help himself. These words touched his soul and let tears flow out of his eyes. He hugged his lover tight and kissed his cheek. "Then let's stay together", he said crying. "Let's enjoy every day we've got."

"Yes." Ianto held him close and stroked his back. "Please move in with me."

Jack nodded. "I will. But you do the laundry."

"You wish." Ianto gave him a clout. "I need to rest. I'm hurt."

"For now." Jack grinned and slowly separated from him again.

"For now." Ianto nodded a little.

"Listen... I'm really glad that you are okay." Jack placed a hand on his cheek.

"I said that I'm just tired."

"Then let's go to bed. I'll stay and hold you."

"That sounds amazing." Ianto smiled happily.

"I am amazing." Jack winked.

"I know." Ianto took his hand. "That's why I want to be with you."

"You're pretty okay, too."

"Thank you."

They shared a long and loving kiss before they got back into the car. Ianto fell asleep before they even reached his apartment so Jack just carried him upstairs. It was quite a challenge to unlock the door with his lover in his arms, but Jack managed to do it without waking even waking him.

Carefully, he placed him onto the bed and put out his shoes. Ianto murmured something about strawberry cake and started cuddling his blanket. It made Jack smile. He put out his shoes as well and laid down next to him. With a warm smile he pulled Ianto in his arms and leaned his head on his'.

He had been afraid to fall in love again because it always ended in loss and pain. But some people were worth it. And Ianto was definitely one of them.

#janto #jack harkness #ianto jones #jack harkness x ianto jones #ianto jones x jack harkness #torchwood #ianto x jack #jack x ianto #fanfiction

[jbharrisauthor]

Timing is Anything (Episode 1 Chapter Eight)

Read Chapter One here

Read Chapter Two here

Read Chapter Three here

Read Chapter Four here

Read Chapter Five here

Read Chapter Six here

Read Chapter Seven here

“What the hell are you doing?” Ianto demanded as Captain John Hart strapped him down to a kind of operating table and then hit a button to raise it upright. “Last time I saw you, you helped us. You said you wanted to change.” “Correction. I helped Jack. I wanted to change for Jack.” John paced around him, resting both his hands on the belt riding low around his waist with various weapons attached. “But then I realized I was going about it all wrong. Instead of changing for Jack—because, let’s face it, eye-candy, he wasn’t ever going to take me back or forgive me. I should have been trying to change to be more like Jack.” John had once been Jack’s partner in the 51st century when he’d worked for the Time Agency—whatever that was. Jack had never actually explained any of it. The pair had done far more than just work together for five years, and that same bitter acid of jealousy he’d felt last time John had paid them a visit bubbled up in his stomach again. “What does that even mean?” He jerked his hands against the thick leather straps keeping them in place. “Jack won the cosmic lottery. He’s immortal. Forever. Can’t die. Just traipses about the universe shagging and killing and doing whatever the hell he wants. All without the fear of death.” John stepped closer and grabbed his chin in a pinching grip. He gave a laugh. “I mean, can you even imagine it, eye-candy? The utter, heady freedom of it. What a gift.” “You know Jack doesn’t see it that way. He says it’s a curse,” he forced out through a clenched jaw. “Yeah, well, Jack always was a stick in the mud. He could find the downside to getting off with a pair of sexually ambiguous twin acrobats.” John ran a gaze over his face. “I can see why you caught his eye, though. You are delicious.” “Go to hell.” John laughed again, but did let go of his chin. “Been there, done that. Got kicked out.” “So, what, now you’re working with the Timeless?” John sent him a surprised, but impressed look. “Well, aren’t you clever? Brains and beauty. Are you trying to turn me on?” “Just answer the question!” He yanked at his wrists again, more out of frustration than any idea he might actually be able to loosen them. “I heard about them, the Timeless. Fearful whispers in some bar on the edge of the universe where people go to lose their sanity.” “So you thought, oh, they sound like nice people. Think I’ll go work for them,” he shot back, anger getting the better of his sarcasm. “Whoa, now, you could poke someone’s eye out with that sharp tongue of yours.” John paced another few steps in front of him, like he had all day to stand around and boast about his brilliant plans that always screwed everyone around him. “Most of it was myth and misinformation. It took me years, but I finally found them. Used every contact and called in every scrap of favour anyone owed me all up and down the sodding galaxy. I told them about Jack. Fixed point in time and everything he is. See I thought we could be partners, form an alliance. Work out what makes Jack tick. What keeps him beyond the usual restriction of time.” “It was an anomaly. You think he hasn’t tried to work out if it can be reversed, if he can use it to heal others? He’s thought of everything, there is no answer.” Bloody John, he’d sold Jack out to the Timeless. If everything The Doctor had said about them was true and they were coming for Jack— Desperation and cold, icy fear ripped through him. He’d do anything to stop that from happening. Even die again. “Oh, eye-candy. So human. Such a small, uncomprehending mind. I don’t know how Jack puts up with living on that tiny inbred planet you call home.” John set both hands against his cheeks and leaned in until there were only inches separating their faces. “The Timeless are ancient. They know things humans haven’t even been able to imagine yet. If anyone can figure out Jack’s secret, it’s them.” “He cared about you once. How could you betray him?” “Cared about me?” John grinned, gloating. “He loved me. Told me every other day for two years. And yes, I betrayed him, because in the end, love is as fickle and pointless as every other god damn thing in this universe.” He tried to turn his head away so he didn’t have to look at John anymore, his stomach burning. But the captain wouldn’t let him go. “You think you’re special? That you’re the one who’ll change him, make him stay a lifetime until you’re a shrivelled husk of yourself? Well, let me tell you the truth about Captain Jack Harkness. Love is the one thing he is absolutely terrified of. He won’t keep you. Give him a few years, and he’ll find some way of getting rid of you, maybe even make it seem like it was your idea. It’ll be like a handful of weeks to him. Just enough time to realize that you’re no different to any other hundred men and women he’s supposedly loved.” “Shut up, you don’t know anything about us.” John laughed. “They all say that. Come up with something original, why don’t you.” His breath had gotten too short, John’s word hurting more than he wanted them to. But the hurt only fed his anger. “Fine. You know everything about it, everything about him. Then you know he’ll find a way to stop you.” “He can try to stop me.” John leaned in even closer, inhaling deeply. “But he won’t be able to stop them. No one can. Unfortunately, it turns out they’re even more ruthless, cheating bastards than I am. We made a deal to bring Jack in together and discover the key to his immortality. But they screwed me over, put a damn chip in my head, and now I have to do what they say or risk having my brain melted on a regular basis.” “Sounds like you got what you deserved,” he snarled in return. John slammed his mouth down on his in a kiss that was meant to be nothing but punishing. When he pulled back, Ianto tasted blood on his lower lip. “Naughty, naughty, eye-candy. When you get home to dear old Jack, make sure you tell him about that, now, won’t you?” “You bastard. Let me go!” John finally stepped back, but only far enough to pick up what looked like a kind of remote off a nearby trolley. “Of course I’m going to let you go. It’s all part of the plan. There’s just a minor formality we have to take care of first.” The captain pressed a button on the remote, and above him, the ceiling opened to reveal some kind of apparatus that had instruments attached to it like spider’s legs. A jolt of icy fear ripped through his entire body. The device looked too much like the upgrade unit the Cybermen had used; bringing back a tsunami of memories from the horror of Canary Warf and when Lisa had been killed in the Torchwood hub. “What is that? What are you doing?” He wrenched against the binds, not caring if he had to break his bloody arms to escape. “Calm down, eye-candy. Nothing to get hysterical over. It’s a simple procedure, really, and once the biochip is in your brain, you won’t even know it’s there.” “I doubt I’m going to forget having a chip implanted in my brain,” he yelled back, twisting his body, except all he was doing was making the straps cut into his skin. “No, really. You literally won’t know. The first part of the procedure will wipe your memory of the last few minutes.” John’s words shocked him motionless. “What?” “That’s the beauty of it, why Jack will never see it coming. See, I’m not the one who’s going to hand Jack over to the Timeless, Ianto Jones. You are.” He shook his head, fear and dread beginning to overwhelm his system, panic making his mind blank. “No, I won’t do it.” “You will, because the chip will tell you to. The minute you see Jack, you’re going to have this overwhelming urge to kill him and keep killing him until you’ve delivered him to the Timeless.” John laughed and hit another button on the remote, bringing the apparatus above to life. “It’s poetry from where I’m standing. Absolute bloody poetry.” Oh God. No. Not him. Not Jack. The apparatus lowered and he flinched back against the table, but there was nowhere to go. “No! Don’t do this. Please!” “The more you struggle, the more it’ll hurt,” John said in a chiding tone. But then he grinned. “Actually, go ahead. Struggle all you want. Either way, you’re still getting chipped.”

Read Chapter Nine here

#fanfiction #torchwood #ianto jones #captain jack harkness #doctor who #13th doctor #torchwood au #doctor who au #tardis #crossover fic #ianto jones x 13th doctor

[fafsernir]

I’ll be There for You

Title: I’ll be There for You

Fandom: Torchwood (Janto, Ten/Rose)

Chapters: 1/?

Summary: Jack and Ianto don't exactly start off on the right foot. It doesn't mean they can't be friends, right?

Read on AO3 or FF.net

Note: (long note, I know, but please read to know about the AU)

Ooookay a bit of context needed for this (ahem, again) AU fic! For those who follow me with my other Torchwood fics, you know I've been away from the Torchwood fandom since I've watched Friends, and one thing I did while watching Friends was, apart from shipping really hard Monica and Chandler, comparing my favourite couple to Janto. Because Janto is never very far in my mind ;) So, yeah, I found similarities with Janto & Mondler, and @mika-pirkaf (go check her, she's awesome) also did. we started talking and as often (when an idea has been on my mind and I finally talk about it), I ended up writing a fic, because why the hell not. And as ALWAYS, it got out of hands and now I want to write a whole chaptered fic.

Okay, moving on to what you need to know: Do you need to have watched Friends? Nope. It sure will help getting references, but it's not necessary, it's still a Janto story. It's basically scenes between Monica and Chandler, but modified to fit at best to Ianto and Jack.

Things you might want to know or else you won't understand: Yeah, Ianto has Rhiannon in canon, that's true, but for this story I (actually we, because mika-pirkaf helped me a great deal!) decided to change who his sibling was. For this story, the Doctor is Ianto's older brother, and he's named John, otherwise it was weird/harder to write. Ianto's (and John's, therefore) parents are named George and Mary; and Ianto's best friend is Rose. Try and stop me. Other Torchwood characters will appear later on ;)

Oh, and it's set in the 90s for this chapter. Jack's and Ianto's behaviours are not the same as I plan them to be later in the story so don't worry, it will fit the characters more later. (For now, Jack's in his first year of College and Ianto is in his last year of high school)

Ianto flattened his shirt nervously, then pulled at it to take it out of his pants. He looked down at himself, pouted, and tucked his top back in his jeans. Yeah, it was definitely better. As thin as his brother was, the clothes he had inherited from him were surprisingly big. Way too big. The fact that he was anxious didn't help him feel good in them.

“Did you clean your room?” his mother asked as she walked pass him.

He mumbled affirmatively, only for his father to flick the back of his head. “Behave yourself, your brother is coming.”

As if Ianto wasn't aware of that. His brother and some friend of his' from College were about to arrive, which was the main reason why Ianto felt nervous. He didn't like people that much. Well, he did, but he wasn't that good at interacting with them, especially lately. He only had one friend and he was fine with it most of the time. Other kids said he was weird and it hurt him too much to want to be friend with them. Not that he had ever said so to anyone, not even Rose.

The doorbell rang and Ianto smiled, flattening his shirt one last time before almost running to the door.

“Merry Christmas!” he said excitedly to the young girl on the other side.

Rose smiled at him and walked in. They had known each other for so many years – their parents were friends so they had become friends – and Ianto could tell she felt a bit down.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “I'm just worried about my mum.”

She was spending Christmas with the Joneses because her mother was working on Christmas Eve – her father had died a long time ago. She knew everyone in the family rather well, so she quickly moved to the living room to greet Ianto's parents.

“George, Mary, great to see you again.”

“Oh, Rose, I'm glad you're here! How's your mother?” George enquired, a genuine smile on his face.

Ianto sighed. He loved Rose, but sometimes he was jealous of how much his own father loved her as his daughter. Ianto knew he'd have rather raised a girl, but he got a second boy and he never had much interest in Ianto. Well, of course he had, especially when Ianto was failing, or that he needed to put John on a pedestal. He really never missed an occasion to put Ianto down. Ianto was pretty sure George had already said more than once that Rose was like her second child.

Ianto shifted his weight, his hands in his pockets, waiting for the conversation to die out so he could talk to Rose and feel a little less shitty about himself.

The doorbell rang again, and George abandoned all conversation to greet his prodigy son. At least, Ianto could talk to Rose now. He still glanced at his brother and his friend, because as competitive as they had been only a few months earlier, now that John was off to College, Ianto missed his presence.

He was standing next to a boy that Ianto didn't notice right away. No, he first saw that they both were wearing way too big embellished jeans – ugly, oh so ugly! – and tainted glasses. They looked pretty stupid in Ianto's eyes. Sure, it was trendy, but he was pretty sure it wouldn't be for long, and as far as he was concerned, it wasn't always good to follow the trend. Just like those awful jeans.

Then he really took a second to look at their faces and he felt his heart beat faster in his chest. John's friend was a bit taller than Ianto, he had dark, half-short, half-long and half-curled, half-straight hair – he wasn't sure what he had tried to do with his hair, but it didn't look that good – and the most beautiful eyes Ianto had ever seen, even through the tainted glasses. He had never really stared deep into someone's eyes. His mother's were beautiful and he loved them, but it was his mother's. This boy's eyes – Jack, as John introduced him a few seconds later – were just mesmerizing. And his smile was just so handsome.

He was so handsome, no matter how ridiculous his clothes looked in Ianto's eyes.

And he was back with that uncomfortable feeling that something was wrong, that he was wrong. He wasn't supposed to feel that way towards other men. He had tried to repress it, had thought he had gotten over it, because he had felt it with girls. But it was back. If he had panicked about the feeling at first because he couldn't even name it, by now he knew it was attraction. The problem was that he still panicked when he was attracted to other boys, and it seemed strong with Jack.

He wasn't even paying much attention to Ianto. Ianto wanted to talk to him, ask him questions, but each time he stood in the same room, he found himself opening and closing his mouth, or doing a weird, embarrassing noise.

At the end of the dinner, Ianto couldn't keep count of how many times he had blushed or make himself a fool by being a mess. On the bright side, Jack didn't seem to care much. On the way less bright side, Jack didn't seem to care at all. For once in his life, Ianto wanted someone to notice him. He wanted to impress him, or him to be interested, whatever; he wanted a reaction from Jack, hopefully a positive one.

He even made him coffee, after babbling some more, because how in God's name was he supposed to make himself interesting enough for someone like Jack? Coffee was the only thing he knew he was really good at. What was he even supposed to say? He'd asked what he was studying, where he was living, and that was pretty much all. He hadn't dared to ask why he didn't like Christmas much. He only knew, thanks to John, that he didn't. But Ianto guessed that whatever reason he had to hate it, he probably didn't want to share, so Ianto didn't ask, even if it meant having no subject of conversation.

The dinner was done, everyone going their own way – the parents in the living-room, watching TV, the two youngest talking together, and the two College students doing the dishes – and Ianto thought that he should try at least one last time to befriend Jack. He walked into the kitchen, hoping that maybe he would magically find a subject to talk about.

“Are you trying to ditch me on Christmas?” he heard Jack say. Was John going to leave?

“You can stay here, my parents won't mind.” Ianto sure wouldn't mind either.

“What, and leave me alone with that weird brother of yours?”

“Hey, he's not weird.”

Ianto didn't even listen to John's defence. He gulped, his vision blurred, and he silently turned on his heels, almost running upstairs. Jack thought he was weird, too. He wasn't different from the others, and Ianto had tried to be interesting for him. He had tried to be something he wasn't, apparently. He was just a weird guy, as everyone seem to be thinking and telling him.

“What happened? I saw you disappearing upstairs,” Rose's soft voice said, not long after.

Ianto had almost forgotten about her presence in the house. She had picked up that something was different about Ianto the whole night, but she hadn't been able to guess what. She was just worried, and Ianto felt guilty. He had been less with her just to try to talk with a guy that didn't care about him. What was up with him?!

“Nothing, I'm fine,” he shrugged.

“Yeah, right,” she scoffed. She walked to his bed, sitting at the end and smiling at him. “Come on, you can tell me.”

He knew he could trust her; he was his only friend, and even if she sometimes gossiped, she could keep secrets. So he did tell her, as briefly as possible.

By the end, once the shock that Ianto was something between gay and straight passed, she jumped on her feet, her hands on her hips, looking outraged. “That guy's a jerk! You deserve better than that! I can't believe he said that. You're not weird!”

“Thanks, but they're all saying it...”

“Well, I don't think you're weird, okay? Doesn't my opinion count?”

“It does, but...”

“You're a great person, and Jack doesn't know what he's missing. Now you go downstairs and prove him wrong,” she cute him, looking way too motivated.

“How? I've been making a fool of myself all night already,” Ianto shook his head, not as enthusiastic about proving Jack that he was wrong.

“We're gonna figure it out!”

“Well, I'd rather figure it out before going downstairs,” he shrugged.

Rose tried to think, then concluded that they didn't need to get back at Jack now. Ianto didn't know if he would ever see him again to do it later, but he agreed nonetheless. He didn't even want to get back at him or anything, he was just feeling down because of his words, despite Rose's attempts to cheer him up.

Except that maybe he did want to get back at him, and every one that had ever stated that he was weird. He wasn't weird.

If you enjoyed, please let me know so I know if I have to keep putting the entire chapters or if I can just share the link. (I’ll be tagging the updates for this fic ITY )

#torchwood #janto #jack harkness #ianto jones #ITY #english fic #humor fic #f.r.i.e.n.d.s au #fluff fic #alternate universe fic #mel writes