Fic: "Afternoon Break"

[cyus]

Title: Afternoon Break
Pairing/Characters: Jack/Ianto
Rating: G
Length: 1200 words
Summary: Jack and Ianto have a few hours to themselves during an afternoon in Cardiff.

Ianto kicks the ball to Jack, lifts his hand in what now? when the ball bounces awkwardly off Jack's ankle and disappears in the bushes to the neighbours.

"You haven't really kicked a ball before, have you?" Ianto squints against the sun at Jack.

Jack stands with his arms crossed, the coat lying in a heap to the side, and he looks almost naked like that. It's a Saturday afternoon, and Torchwood downtime coincides with a Cardiff day that allows the sun a peek into ordinary lives.

Ianto shakes his head and jogs to the side of the small back garden to fetch the ball.

"Cricket," Jack replies.

Ianto stops in mid-movement, turns slowly. The grass, wet from an early morning shower, squeaks under his shoes. "Cricket," he intones carefully.

"Cricket," Jack replies with a firm nod.

"Shit." Ianto stares at Jack, then laughs. "Your posh arse would have never made it to my mum's Sunday tea." He ducks under the bushes, angles his foot for the ball and regrets the flippant mention because it brings back too much too fast. He finds the ball and pushes it free from the undergrowth.

"Not posh," Jack says.

Ianto grins and lazily kicks the ball a few feet. "Wearing whites and never getting dirty," he says, cheap imitation of a posh accent with Welsh r's ruining the picture.

Jack rolls his eyes, nods at the ball. "Are we playing or what?"

Ianto sizes him up and kicks the ball. Jack stretches for it, boot slipping on the grass and lands flat on his arse. He looks up at Ianto with a faint flicker of surprise and how did that happen then.

Ianto strolls over, crouches. "What did you do in the 60s? Watch polo?"

Jack shrugs, grimaces at the wetness of the grass, lifts his grass-stained hands up to shove at Ianto's face. "For example."

"Kissed all the pretty girls in too-big hats?"

Jack rolls his eyes. "Not exactly the time to rough up the boys with too many beers and high from the stadium." Jack stands, brushes along his wet trousers and walks away from Ianto to fetch the ball.

"Thought you'd like the uniforms. Never done a football player? Or rugby? Never done a rugby player?"

Jack kicks the ball towards Ianto, intends to, anyway. Ianto ducks to the side when it nearly takes off his head. "Sorry." Jack laughs. He shrugs and waits for Ianto to fetch the ball again, watches him do a trick or two. "I'd do you in shorts," he says.

Ianto laughs and loses concentration and the ball both. He kicks the ball to Jack, and Jack kicks it back easily. "Don't think I have them anymore." He passes the ball back to Jack. "What's it like, what was it like, Cardiff, in the 60s?"

Jack misses the ball and jogs for it, passes it back and forth between his feet as he strolls closer again. "Grey. Drunken." He shrugs. "It's better today. Would I have really-" Jack stops with the ball, "your mum, wouldn't-"

Ianto looks at the grass, shakes his head. "Doesn't matter. Pass it, yeah?" He nods at the ball.

Jack passes the ball to Ianto, shrugs. "Okay."

Ianto rolls his foot over the ball, kicks it with the outside to the right, with the inside back to the left.

"Your Dad?"

"Leave it, Jack." A cloud pushes over the sun, and Ianto looks up to the sky where Cardiff becomes more like Cardiff again. "Looks like rain," he says, and nods at their cups of coffee on the steps down from the house to the garden.

"Your Da-" The glare from Ianto shuts Jack up. Jack shrugs, then grins. "Guess what I found?"

Ianto looks up, eyes narrowed as he tries not to think about his Da or what he would have said about this, any of this, really. "When." The word loses its question mark on the way past his lips.

"You do sleep you know."

"Shit." Ianto rests his foot on the ball.

"Well first there were the CDs, all neat and-"

"You didn't."

"-but then, behind the CDs, see, in-"

"You didn't." Ianto shakes his head.

Jack walks over to his coat and reaches into one of the pockets, pulls out a tape. He jiggles it, plastic against plastic.

Ianto stares at him, the football, he could certainly kick it out of his-, then he leaves the ball and walks over to Jack, more than determined, and reaches for the tape, only to have Jack snatch it out of the way.

"Nuh-uh," Jack says, laughing, and holds the tape above his head.

The writing on the case is fairly unmistakable. Ianto takes a deep breath, then pulls Jack closer by the braces and goes up on his tiptoes, grabbing for it.

Jack, laughing, holds it out of the way, jiggles it again for the sound. "Do you still know the words-"

"Jack."

"Do you-"

"I was 12."

"Oh but you must have been so-"

Ianto shakes his head and pushes at Jack's chest, then turns and walks back to the steps and the cup of coffee, desperate for it. "You're never staying over again!" he says over his shoulder, then bends down for his cup, turns with it as he is taking a sip, watching triumphant Jack with the tape in his hand. "That's worse than baby photos."

"Shouldn't leave it lying around," Jack says and pushes the tape into his pocket. "Wait until I show it to Gwen."

Ianto groans. "It wasn't lying around, it was in a drawer. Normal people don't go through their-" he breaks off, shrugs, "normal people don't go through other people's stuff."

"Are you calling me not normal?" Jack picks up his coat and strolls towards Ianto, kicking the ball over, only to narrowly miss his own coffee cup. It earns him a glare from Ianto. "Oops."

"Certainly not normal."

Jack steps up to Ianto and takes his coffee cup from him to take a sip, pulls a face.

"Mine isn't poisoned with sugar," Ianto says dryly, watches Jack take a second sip despite himself.

Jack pushes the cup back into Ianto's hand and steps closer, slips his hand under Ianto's shirt, fingertips moving slowly along the waistband of Ianto's trousers before he settles his hand on Ianto's hip and leans forward to kiss him.

Chaste really, and Ianto smiles into the kiss as he inches his left hand forward, going for Jack's pocket with the tape, as his wrist is caught in one of Jack's paws. Ianto opens his eyes to a grinning Jack.

"Nice try," Jack says and presses a kiss to Ianto's nose. "But Gwen has to hear this."

"Any chance of a photo of you in posh cricket whites somewhere?" Ianto bends to collect Jack's cup off the step and walks into the house. "Get the ball, yeah?"

"You'd have to go through my drawers. Maybe you'll get lucky."

Ianto feels that wink in the sound waves and rolls his eyes. "I'll just invite Gwen for a bit of footie next time. Unlike you she actually knows how to play."

"She's Welsh," Jack says, affronted. "Of course she-"

Ianto turns, grins broadly. "Exactly." He dumps the cups in the sink. "Back to work then? I'm driving."

Jack sighs. "Just when I was getting the hang of that ball."

Ianto rolls his eyes.

Comments

[mydwynter.livejournal.com]

That was freakin' adorable. Your rep is gonna be cranky.

[cyus.livejournal.com]

It certainly is somewhat, but thanks, glad you enjoyed it. It was fun to write it.

[fiwen1010.livejournal.com]

Hehehe! Love it! Crikkit :D
Football is a silly game, but it makes for engaging fun.
Gxxx

[cyus.livejournal.com]

The cricket is certainly down to you there, so thanks for that. I had to work it in after the twitter convo.

And yeah, easier to kick a ball around than bat at a cricket... ball ... thing I imagine.

[electro-club.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is one of the internet breakers people talk about, isn't it? This is not just adorable - this is Ianto-playing-football adorable! Which is, you know, more, in the adorable scale.

Ianto acting 20 something, enjoying some normal stuff, and yet still being Ianto (Normal people don't go through their-" he breaks off, shrugs, "normal people don't go through other people's stuff."). And of course Jack sucks at football! Of course Ianto's gonna make him look stupid! Jack looking stupid and sucking at something (well..) is so cute. :)

It's sweet without being overly-fluffy. Just them not being hero-of-the-hour and mighty-office-boy for some quality, football time. It's a adorable. You can be proud of yourself! You've accomplished your subverting-fandom's-current-standard-on-fic mission. :D

I just imagined Jack as one of those people who can't tell why no one passes the ball to the guy with the whistle.

[cyus.livejournal.com]

Ianto playing football is totally for you, following our twitter conversation, so I'm happy to hear you enjoyed that one.

I did very much want to show Ianto as a normal mid-20s kind of guy, and hmm, I think the non-boyfriend line, I'm actually not sure if I'd have written it like that pre-CoE, possibly not, but it seems to fit now, really. And yeah, lol, Jack would be RUBBISH at it, and Ianto would be good at it, and Jack would indulge Ianto, I think, just for a smile or something.

I'm good at this subversion thing. But certainly I'm a sucker for cute!fic like this, the sort of fic that shows these moments without making them not believable and I think that worked here.

I just imagined Jack as one of those people who can't tell why no one passes the ball to the guy with the whistle.

You are so right.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Aww, see. I knew you could write something CUTE. :D

Sweet and in-character. I like to think of them enjoying themselves.

[cyus.livejournal.com]

I figured I'd get it out of my system before the porn battle. Well, at least I hope it's mostly out of my system now.

But yeah, I have a thing for them just enjoying themselves quietly, the sort of moments that I'm sure they have inbetween saving the world and all. So yup, spot for cute!fic here, certainly.

And glad it worked. I wonder if anyone read it waiting for someone to be shot or SOMETHING.

[spiderine.livejournal.com]

This is *so* going on the Ultimate Kinkfest Roundup. cruentum writing G rated cute-fic is the sickest squick of all! :)

HUG YOU!


P.S. 20th paragraph: "Jack misses the balls" should be ball.

[cyus.livejournal.com]

Oh god. That was me trying to ... be a little more kinky apparently. Thanks for the catch.

And yeah, it is a bit funny and weird, huh, lol.

[mrsalemp.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you can write sweet and adorable so well, even if your reputation is shooting you dirty looks from over there :P

[cyus.livejournal.com]

I do enjoy writing sweet and adorable, too, as long as it's shortfic like this. I'm sure I'll make my rep happy with something more sinister sometime soon. I hope it doesn't suffer too much in the meantime.

[valancy-joy.livejournal.com]

see... sweet and cute ... but with an undercurrent of classism and repression.

(and should: Ianto seizes him up be 'sizes him up' ??) (takes off editing tiara)

[cyus.livejournal.com]

Yup, and I changed it now. Thanks. (Oh man, it's getting embarrassing with the typos).

And lol, glad you like it, and I needed the undercurrent of SOMETHING to it other than what was going on on the surface, so- there you have it, some tidbits of Ianto and Jack amidst the ball kicking.

[seether-79.livejournal.com]

That was very nice, those boys are so cute!

[cyus.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much, and yeah, cute was what I was going for for a change, so I'm glad it worked.

[electrictoes.livejournal.com]

Adorable &hearts

[cyus.livejournal.com]

Thanks :D

And I LIKE your icon. Nice one.

[mtgat]

There are times Jack is the worst boyfriend ever. Nice work!

[cyus.livejournal.com]

Certainly. :) And thanks for the comment, appreciate it.

[neifile7.livejournal.com]

Cricket uniforms! Nose kissing! You have to start giving credit to all the twitterers kibitzing! (It's all about reciprocity.)

This is exactly what I'd hoped to see, and what an addition to the burgeoning subgenre of cruefluff. I just love them idly kicking a ball around while avoiding talk of Ianto's family and childhood. The tape-nicking by um-um-don't-call-him-boyfriend is a stroke of genius.

Two more picks: "too-big hats" and "Ianto rests his foot on the ball." I really like the physical movements in this, btw; they're so "guy."

[valancy-joy.livejournal.com]

I think the 5th Doctor turned my cricket uniform kink on way back when I was an impressionable college stupid :0)

[curriejean.livejournal.com]

Love it! Thank you!

Edit: also, what neifile7 said.

[cyus.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much. It's a one-off, I think I can safely say, but it was funn to write it. :)

[lefaym.livejournal.com]

My, the fluff bug has bitten you BAD, hasn't it? :P

I really liked this -- they had the perfect combination of affection and restraint.

[cyus.livejournal.com]

I think the next fic, after the comment porn battle, posted here will be light bulb chewing, so I think it will be all back to normal soon, but yeah, for now, it's cute!fic, in an attempt to make it even more innocent than "Pizza Mouth".

Glad it did work for you, I do have a thing for these deleted-scenes type moments.

[fide-et-spe.livejournal.com]

Well I would never have thought this was you! It's sweet, lovely. Welsh people do tend to be more about the rugby really, but they would also be able to play football, and Cardiff has recently been doing much better in the football league.

I so think cricket is perfect for Jack, it really is.

[cyus.livejournal.com]

I have to admit I chose football simply because it's easier to kick a ball around for a quick break, especially if you don't want to get too dirty and are wearing your work clothes (More a rugby fan myself, somewhat, even though I like football just fine).

The cricket for Jack is really thanks to fiwen1010, who is a cricket fan I believe and mentioned it would be his kind of thing. I very much agree with that. He is that kind of dork. (Obviously, I'm not a cricket fan)

But yeah, this was me writing cute!fic without any bad things or anything, it's a novel experience.

[selenecorvinus.livejournal.com]

this was lovely cute and lovely :)

[cyus.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much, glad you liked it.

[kel-reiley.livejournal.com]

see, that was cute AND fluffy but still still you've got ianto's working class background and how he feels about it all mixed up perfectly in there!

[cyus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, no way could I not work that in, I suppose, but I tried to keep it from overshadowing the very, sort of, relaxing feel of the rest. Glad to hear it worked and managed to stay cute, and I suppose, fluffy throughout it. That was certainly the intention.

[laurapetri.livejournal.com]

so cute!!

[cyus.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much :)

[topgeargirl2.livejournal.com]

This was very cute.

It reminded me of two blokes kicking an Aussie rule football around on a lazy afternoon at the park. Ok it was Soccer but it's still the same to me at least.

great job.

[cyus.livejournal.com]

Yup, that was very much the feeling I was going for, to just write something lazy and comfortable with the two of them, so am glad it worked. Thanks for the comment

[adjovi.livejournal.com]

aw...this was just so...aw. i love how easy they are around each other--the natural flow of conversation just very comfortable and real. and, i love this line:

A cloud pushes over the sun, and Ianto looks up to the sky where Cardiff becomes more like Cardiff again.

[cyus.livejournal.com]

It's a very different, hmm, genre maybe for me to write (as you'd know, I think), to write them as being actually comfortable with one another despite conflicts existing instead of writing them at conflict despite technically being comfortable with one another (as I usually do). I'm glad the flow of the conversation works, definitely. And thanks for the comment, appreciate it.

[invisible-lift.livejournal.com]

See, there you go again, pushing the envelope and writing extremes...

*wink*

[cyus.livejournal.com]

Messing with my rep, you mean. I have the distinct impression that parts of fandom now recognize me for writing fluff. It's a strange feeling. Er ... halp.

[wereleopard58.livejournal.com]

awww loved it

[cyus.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much, appreciate the comment. :)

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Heh, Ianto is so irritated by Jack's inability to kick a ball... and Jack would prefer cricket, just because of the outfits.

[cyus.livejournal.com]

Of course he would, Jack is all in it for the whites :D

[cyus.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much for the comment, I do appreciate that.

It's interesting for me that CoE has given Ianto the working class background, and the lying liar background, I've always written him with (Time Has Set Its Maggot and Prince of the Apple Towns), so to suddenly see it become canon, and to see it surprise people, surprised me a bit because it has always been my interpretation of Ianto, and I wrote quite a few comments in reply to those two fics explaining WHY it is my interpretation. So it's all a little surreal and strange now in a world post-CoE where it is suddenly the accepted interpretation and I'm no longer cool and different :P

That said, I'm glad it works with those layers for you, and thanks for stopping by to comment. Fluffy isn't my usual tone of writing, so glad to see it still worked as that.

[anyjen.livejournal.com]

Oh, my. Hopeless Jack was adorable. And I'd sell a kidney to watch that tape... or see Jack in cricket whites. XD

Jack kicks the ball towards Ianto, intends to, anyway. Ianto ducks to the side when it nearly takes off his head.

I bet Jack was kicking the ball with his toes. *snigger*