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Short: "Wired"
Title: Wired
Characters/Pairing: Ianto/Lisa, Jack
Rating: R
Length: 677
Summary: Lisa is Ianto's girlfriend, encased in metal or not.
Notes: set pre-series
Harkness crossed the main floor of the Hub. His soles squeaked on the metal walkway. "Well-"
Ianto glanced at Harkness' boots, froze in mid-movement. Suzie cleared her throat, and he looked up at her. He swallowed, tried to say something, but she stared him down, so he kept his mouth shut and continued to sort the papers into folders.
"That time of the year, is it?" Owen leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head. The chair creaked with every shift of his weight, springs cranky.
"Snowdon is calling," Harkness replied.
"Yeah, it's screaming 'get away from me, Harkness, oh no, not you again'." Owen rolled his eyes and turned back to his workstation with a long screech of metal on metal.
Ianto's cock hardened.
He would watch her at night when she was asleep, balls and cock pressed to cold metal, just warming it with his own heat. He'd walk in, and she'd already have her eyes closed, painkillers dripping into her and shutting down her system.
He missed her.
Harkness took the steps to the main area at an easy jog. He stood, surveyed them, and Ianto watched from the corner of his eyes when he came closer, stood right beside him. Suzie glanced over, then turned back to her computer screen.
"Do you enjoy the work here then?" Harkness asked. He fingered one of the folders, looked at it, then dropped it back on the desk. "Fancy a trip up Snowdon?"
"Snowdon?"
Owen got up, metal springs screamed with the bounce, and Ianto pressed his crotch against the edge of the table, hidden from view by the sheets of paper in his hand. Arousal caught in his stomach, muscles in his thighs tense, and the edge of the desk didn't yield.
Harkness raised an eyebrow at him.
She'd shift, a screech of metal and metal, and all it meant was that she was still alive and still there. Hand between her legs, he'd push his cock against one of the metal plates, then she'd open her eyes and gasp. His fingers would slip into her. She didn't get wet anymore, not for him or anything, so it'd be his precome that would ease the way for a moment of heat, but even inside wires would grip him, and reality brought the fantasy crashing down. He'd jerk off against the metal and stain it with come while she was watching.
"Bit of excitement, hunting dead alien sheep, that kind of thing," Harkness went on.
Owen dropped onto his chair again. Metal screeched. Ianto pushed his crotch against the edge of the desk. His hips jerked once, twice before he stopped, face heating. The coffee in the cup rippled with the movement.
Harkness looked pointedly from the cup to Ianto's hips. "Not that exciting," he said after a pause, light tone. "Boys." He laughed, then leaned close. "You can still come. There'll be guns and ropes and all other kinds of entertaining things." He drew his hand down Ianto's back, then clapped him on the shoulder. "And me, of course. What do you say?" Jack brushed his thumb along the back of Ianto's neck.
Ianto nodded, his trousers tight.
"Finish up and be ready in thirty, then, Ianto," Harkness called as he pushed away and crossed the Hub again.
Ianto stared after Harkness. Suzie caught him, laughed and shook her head.
"I'll just carry this down to the archives," he told no-one in particular and held up the folders. They didn't even look up.
He took the stairs down to the lower levels of the Hub, walked past the archives.
She'd be asleep, but she usually was, at least at first. She'd say, 'thank you for making me feel alive', and he'd feel the part of the rapist anyway and flee. He always came back when she was asleep again and cleaned her, whispered he'd never do it again. But then he would, because she was the only thing he still had. He told himself that she never said 'no' and that that was enough.
Characters/Pairing: Ianto/Lisa, Jack
Rating: R
Length: 677
Summary: Lisa is Ianto's girlfriend, encased in metal or not.
Notes: set pre-series
Harkness crossed the main floor of the Hub. His soles squeaked on the metal walkway. "Well-"
Ianto glanced at Harkness' boots, froze in mid-movement. Suzie cleared her throat, and he looked up at her. He swallowed, tried to say something, but she stared him down, so he kept his mouth shut and continued to sort the papers into folders.
"That time of the year, is it?" Owen leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head. The chair creaked with every shift of his weight, springs cranky.
"Snowdon is calling," Harkness replied.
"Yeah, it's screaming 'get away from me, Harkness, oh no, not you again'." Owen rolled his eyes and turned back to his workstation with a long screech of metal on metal.
Ianto's cock hardened.
He would watch her at night when she was asleep, balls and cock pressed to cold metal, just warming it with his own heat. He'd walk in, and she'd already have her eyes closed, painkillers dripping into her and shutting down her system.
He missed her.
Harkness took the steps to the main area at an easy jog. He stood, surveyed them, and Ianto watched from the corner of his eyes when he came closer, stood right beside him. Suzie glanced over, then turned back to her computer screen.
"Do you enjoy the work here then?" Harkness asked. He fingered one of the folders, looked at it, then dropped it back on the desk. "Fancy a trip up Snowdon?"
"Snowdon?"
Owen got up, metal springs screamed with the bounce, and Ianto pressed his crotch against the edge of the table, hidden from view by the sheets of paper in his hand. Arousal caught in his stomach, muscles in his thighs tense, and the edge of the desk didn't yield.
Harkness raised an eyebrow at him.
She'd shift, a screech of metal and metal, and all it meant was that she was still alive and still there. Hand between her legs, he'd push his cock against one of the metal plates, then she'd open her eyes and gasp. His fingers would slip into her. She didn't get wet anymore, not for him or anything, so it'd be his precome that would ease the way for a moment of heat, but even inside wires would grip him, and reality brought the fantasy crashing down. He'd jerk off against the metal and stain it with come while she was watching.
"Bit of excitement, hunting dead alien sheep, that kind of thing," Harkness went on.
Owen dropped onto his chair again. Metal screeched. Ianto pushed his crotch against the edge of the desk. His hips jerked once, twice before he stopped, face heating. The coffee in the cup rippled with the movement.
Harkness looked pointedly from the cup to Ianto's hips. "Not that exciting," he said after a pause, light tone. "Boys." He laughed, then leaned close. "You can still come. There'll be guns and ropes and all other kinds of entertaining things." He drew his hand down Ianto's back, then clapped him on the shoulder. "And me, of course. What do you say?" Jack brushed his thumb along the back of Ianto's neck.
Ianto nodded, his trousers tight.
"Finish up and be ready in thirty, then, Ianto," Harkness called as he pushed away and crossed the Hub again.
Ianto stared after Harkness. Suzie caught him, laughed and shook her head.
"I'll just carry this down to the archives," he told no-one in particular and held up the folders. They didn't even look up.
He took the stairs down to the lower levels of the Hub, walked past the archives.
She'd be asleep, but she usually was, at least at first. She'd say, 'thank you for making me feel alive', and he'd feel the part of the rapist anyway and flee. He always came back when she was asleep again and cleaned her, whispered he'd never do it again. But then he would, because she was the only thing he still had. He told himself that she never said 'no' and that that was enough.
no subject
Metal.
Ianto is seriously hurting. I've been debating in my head since I read this an hour ago if this was really a case of dubious consent or not. I tend to go w/ the "Lisa died at Canary Wharf" view b/c I cannot bear to think of her lying there, completely immobile, seeing what Ianto is doing for her, and unable to do anything about it. That's what I'd like to think. However, it's not how I actually think things were. I think there was a piece of her that was still her, trapped inside and experiencing everything. Would that part of her had wanted Ianto to have even this version of sex with her robotic body? I don't know. I do think she would have been fed up w/ his guilt over it, though, b/c a person can only handle so much of someone else's guilt. So maybe she would have lied and said "thank you for making me feel alive." (I say lied b/c I don't think it made her feel alive at all -- frustrated and heartsick, perhaps, which you have to be alive to feel, but not what you would call 'alive.')
One thing I've noticed about your Ianto fics is the central importance of Lisa and really, Ianto's life outside of Jack/Torchwood. (I tend to see Lisa as a kind of idealized love, and who knows if it would have survived much longer, if Ianto's survivor's guilt wouldn't have ultimately crushed them. Jack is the warts and all kind of love, in my opinion. He's rather warty.) But I like to see the other side of the coin, as it's certainly legitimate.
Anyhow, very interesting piece. Food for thought-y. Well, all of your stories are food for thought, but this one touches on even more issues than usual.
no subject
For me, I agree that Ianto's love for Lisa is more of an idea, an ideallized something of what could have been, maybe, or what he would have liked to see in the long run. I don't think his love for Jack is any greater or smaller or more special though (and I think their relationships is equally messed up on enough levels).
I don't disagree with your interpretations necessarily. It IS written from Ianto's POV and there is no way to tell from his interpretation just what Lisa actually feels and how she actually feels. I like to think she loved him and that she let him have that because she loved him even if it broke her heart. In a way, a sort of payback for all the work he puts into it and he is allowed to do it, maybe that is how she explains it in her head. To Ianto, I think he wouldn't necessarily realize that (except the guilt says he does). I don't think he wants to think further than the actual act, than what they are doing, because it would burst that bubble.
For me, the sex is their attempt to hold onto a normal life, on to something they have had before, to forget for just a while what they are doing. It's mostly working for Ianto, it's probably not working for Lisa, but I tend to think she'd let him have it. And certainly it's not the most romantic view to think of relationships as a check of balances and investments, but I think that Lisa feels she owes him. I don't think she resents that, I don't think it makes her hate Ianto and I don't think that she does it unwillingly. She wants to make him happy. And if that is one thing she can still do to make him happy she is going to try that.
How futile and how messed up that is, no disagreements.
And while I agree that it would make her heartsick and feel bad, I think part of her would be happy, and glad that Ianto can still get some kind of enjoyment out of this situation (as little as Ianto may actually ENJOY the act), because - and this is entering the dubcon territory for me more than anything else - how much can she still give him, this is something she CAN give him. I like to think she doesn't do it out of guilt, I like to think she still loves him and that part of her love causes her to want to make him happy.
Really, the dubcon sticker depends on your interpretation of the characters and of the actions, in my opinion.
Ianto's love for Jack - I see it as less idealized, but perhaps a continuation, something to cling to fill that whole (and what better to use to fill the whole of a girlfriend who died than someone who will never die). I don't see it as romantic or particularly well-adjusted. Ianto fell into it when he was in a pretty vulnerable place, and he's still in it now - he took Jack back after he'd fucked off with the Doctor - it kind of depends, again, on interpretations of how adjusted or not adjusted that is, or on interpretations on how much Ianto feels he needs to be dependable and how little he is unable to break out of relationships. I can see a LOT of intepretations re: Jack/Ianto and Jack/Lisa work, really, but I think that Ianto's love for Jack is based on a power-imbalance (simply by how he stumbled into it), that he is slowly gnawing away at, and Jack's love for Ianto - well, Ianto is a blip in Jack's life ultimately. I don't doubt that he's still at a point in his life where he allows love to happen (I kind of doubt it 5000, 6000 years down the road), or where it actually still registers as something, but I don't think Ianto is anything special to him, not more, not more less than other lovers he's had. And he's only been with him, what, maximum two years. That's very little time to a guy who already lived 120 years linearly as an adult.
Anyway, bottom line, I agree that quite a few interpretations are possible and plausible. In this particularly one, I don't think Ianto is a rapist, but that ultimately is based on my idea of Lisa in it, and it's left pretty open in the story how much delusion plays into Ianto's thoughts and actions, so I'm hardly going to discount other interpretations as invalid.
Thanks for the comment. I appreciated it lots.
*is enlightened*
(I had read this fic earlier, but couldn't think up a comment at the time. Still, this fic kind of... stayed with me. Was it because it was so disturbing? ;) Well, that too, but the events seemed plausible to me and this became one of my canons. (Yes, I can say that I have several alternative truths about the show - I don't think they cancel each other out.))
This part of your comment particularly hit a chord: "And certainly it's not the most romantic view to think of relationships as a check of balances and investments, but I think that Lisa feels she owes him. I don't think she resents that--"
In the context of your fic, this makes SO MUCH SENSE! And in the context of, you know, the world.
I'm not talking about sacrificing yourself for someone you love (that's what Ianto is doing, too) in general but about how women have been conditioned to this mindset that their body is something that can be traded. And Torchwood doesn't exist in a cultural vacuum. I certainly have followed the same logic from time to time. "He's such a nice boy and he actually listens to me. So maybe I'll let him have a cuddle even though it makes me feel uncomfortable." I think that could quite easily become "He's my boyfriend and has suffered so much just to make me stay alive, so I should let him have his reward."
Ok, now I'm just paraphrasing you. Anyway, thinking about Lisa's position in all of this added depth to the original piece of writing - even though the original piece was also brilliant in its sparsity. What you said about Ianto and Jack's relationship in your comment was really interesting, too! (even though I didn't understand 100 % of it) And your comment made me realize that my logic in rewarding boys for acting like decent human beings with physical intimacy is seriously fucked up. So you've also made a feminist effort. :) Thank you!