Ianto in "The Last Beacon" being glad he and Owen had separate beds in their hotel room, only to ask Owen if they could share the bed that very same night>
Alright, I'll say it: Jack Harkness and the Doctor's relationship is possibly the most fleshed out/complicated dynamic in Doctor Who and that is INCLUDING the master/doctor relationship. Seriously, think about it:
the fact that when they meet jack is presented as sleazy con man and the doctor makes him brave- makes him good
but that they are both willing to die for rose as long as she is safe
and then she comes back and dooms them both to live (even though jack has already died for her and the doctor WILL die for her)
(ninerosejack is canon and you cannot convince me otherwise)
but then the doctor sees jack as immortal as someone he COULD spend the rest of his life with
and instead of embracing it like you'd think he would because he is so wrecked by people leaving him/being left by him the doctor RUNS bc the Doctor is so scared of jack of what he means of what he is
jack ends up abandoned in dalek dust goes back in time to find the doctor suffers a hundred years alone/being tortured but STILL WAITS
(screw amy being the girl who waited or rory being the boy who waited- Jack Harkness is the boy who waited and he did it FIRST)
Jack finds out that he was abandoned. that the man that he loves HATES the sight of him. that the doctor would rather have a genocidal murderer than have him
and so Jack gets the hell out of dodge to go to a man who DOES love him
and don't get me wrong Jack loves Ianto and Jack DOES remember Ianto until he dies as the Face of Boe don't forget that (protecting Novice Hame from the virus as he couldn't Ianto
BUT AFTER EVERYTHING THE DOCTOR HAS DONE TO JACK JACK STILL LOVES THEM
Jack still considers five billion years cursed to never die to be BETTER than the alternative: dying a young time-agent-turned-con-man
Jack has more reason than any other companion save maybe Amy to hate the Doctor & yet spends 20 years in jail to rescue Thirteen still LOVES HER
AND AFTER FIVE BILLION YEARS HE ORGANIZES THAT FIRST MEETING ON SATELLITE FIVE HE ORGANIZES 9/ROSE'S FIRST DATE
jack harkness is a living ghost a reminder of the doctor's failures a physical fixed point and yet he still loves the girl who cursed him and the time lord that turned him into the kind of person that would give his dying breaths to protect the last of humanity in a dying city and tell the doctor that he is not alone
because fuck it, YANA was a warning but also a reminder a final gift
jack had been there all along, a ghost an echo a PROMISE
there is no more human character than jack harkness
ngl i need jack back on doctor who and i need him to mention ianto. like when he gives his “i had a boyfriend who…” anecdotes but he actually mentions ianto’s name (he kept his promise and never forgot him)
Falling down the rabbit hole of Torchwood panels up on YouTube (as I so often find myself doing), here lies the highlights of Dragon Con in 2013 with James Marsters, Gareth David-Lloyd, and Eve Myles. A trio to behold. Truly.
ianto and jack most unhinged relationship development ever. ianto flirting with the boss while his half dead (all dead) evil girlfriend is hiding in the basement. unreal amount of hatred in the cyberwoman and then he tries to get jack killed then goes nvm and saves him. jack is like ianto we need to talk about how you tried to kill both me and yourself and how you still want to die desperately and ianto is just like actually sir i think we should just fuck instead. bro propositions his boss over the body of their twice dead coworker. and then is FLUSTERED to get asked out by the same guy. unreal.
Torchwood gets massive props from me for using the "character gets tricked into thinking they did something terrible and confesses it to their loved one" trope with the loved one instead of freaking out just going "no you fucking didn't. We're going to figure out what's actually going on here"