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Tweak says, "ORIGINAL CRACKERBREAD"

Captain Jack Harkness (foreverjack) wrote in marinanova,
@ 2016-12-20 11:38:00

Entry tags:

ianto jones, jack harkness, jun kanzaki, martha jones, spike, the doctor (ten)

Day 407 / Action / Open and closed
Action – closed to Ianto

He's finishing getting dressed and bending to get his boots out of the wardrobe, when the sight of something at the back of the wardrobe, sitting innocuously right behind his boots where he'd swear it wasn't yesterday, gives him pause. A box. A box he had for decades. A box which couldn't possibly be here if this existence wasn't virtual and/or outside of time.

Hardly breathing, he scoops it up and takes it through to Ianto, who's already in the kitchen, getting coffee.

"Hey. Look what I found!"

Action – open

Jack's gift is a box of photographs of past lives and lovers, incredibly precious since it was blown up along with him and the rest of the Hub over a year ago and (in real life, at least) lost forever.

Find him sifting through the photos, or just gazing fondly at one of them, at various points through the day – at the Defence Force HQ, in a restaurant at lunchtime or dinner time, wandering along with a coffee in his hand etc. etc. etc.

((OOC: NSFW content in the thread with Ianto (surprise surprise)! ))

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	readystopwatch 2016-12-20 08:22 am UTC (link)
	"What is it?" Ianto asks curiously, looking up from the mugs he's working on. He's never seen the box before but then again it's hardly something Jack would have shown him back at the Hub. They didn't share as much back then and this is particularly private although doesn't know that just yet. (Reply to this) (Thread)

foreverjack
2016-12-20 11:43 am UTC (link)

Back at the Hub, it's definitely not something Jack would have shared with him, although considering he kept it in a drawer of his desk he wouldn't be surprised if Ianto had come across it at some point. Whether Ianto would have snooped inside it if he had... he doesn't know.

It's all academic now anyway because now, he wants to share.

"Memories," he says softly, setting the box down on the counter with supreme gentleness, as if it might disintegrate into the dust it must be in real life if he's too rough with it. He glances up at Ianto with an almost shy smile, and then looks down again as he carefully opens the lid of the box, turning it round to show Ianto the little mound of ageing photographs inside, carefully collected over decades of life.

"It was blown up along with the Hub," he murmurs, with a wondering and almost radiant smile. "I never thought I'd see these again."

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readystopwatch
2016-12-20 12:09 pm UTC (link)

He snooped, but only for big, obvious clues like things left sitting out on his desk or in archive files. Anythingthis personal he would have left alone. It feels like such a long time ago now.

He leans closer, gently flipping through the old photographs, knowing these are important. The few memories across his very long life that Jack has chosen to save. He can't decide which is more interesting, his unchanging face documented across the decades or the unfamiliar ones of the people in the photos with him.

"They gave it back to you," A smile at a picture that must be at least a century old of Jack in a suit next to a woman in a wedding dress.

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foreverjack
2016-12-20 12:21 pm UTC (link)

"They did. After all the things they've taken from me, they gave me this back."

It feels a little odd, looking back at these after all this time, and more especially with Ianto, one of the few he's chosen to share them with, but more than odd it feels very special, and he moves next to Ianto and slides an arm around his waist as he watches him go through the photographs. Content enough, for the moment, to just enjoy Ianto's reaction - and especially to that wedding photo.

Link to where I've collected some of those photos

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	readystopwatch 2016-12-20 12:51 pm UTC (link)
	It does feel special and he leans comfortably against Jack as he looks through the photos. Just being trusted to share them is a mark of how far they've come. He smiles as he reaches the one of Jack by the fighter plane. "Very dashing. You look handsome in uniform." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	foreverjack 2016-12-20 03:46 pm UTC (link)
	"I look handsome in anything - or out of it!" he replies automatically, before leaning down to peer at the picture, grinning a bit at the sight. "Wow. I was so young." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	readystopwatch 2016-12-20 06:07 pm UTC (link)
	"True, but I like a man in uniform." Or at least Jack in uniform. That comment gets an amused look from him. He knows what he means, but even so, "You look the same." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	foreverjack 2016-12-22 04:50 am UTC (link)
	"Oh, you do, do you?" Yeah, he knows that. Just look at how attached Ianto is to the coat, almost as much as he is! He traces a fingertip around the face of the man in the photograph. "No I don't. I was incredibly young and cocky! Just look at that smile!" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

readystopwatch
2016-12-22 08:03 am UTC (link)

"Alright, the smile is a bit different." He really can see it. It's not even so much a question of looking older of younger, but more like that cocky attitude is gone. Changed might be a better way to describe it because he's still seen that smile on Jack's face a thousand times. It just seems more tired now, like it's hiding more years and pain behind it.

He sets down the pictures and turns to smile softly at him, running a hand gently along that unchanging face. "I like you better this way."

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foreverjack
2016-12-22 11:49 am UTC (link)

That's... probably an extremely accurate description. He still does the cocky smile, but it's not the same. There's a lot more behind it, and it's not always as heartfelt as it was back then.

"I'm probably a better man now," he admits, smiling at the stroking of his face, before glancing down at the photo again. "That was... you remember Estelle? With the faeries? She took that photo. She was so proud of me, going off to fight, so happy. And I thought I could do it. Could use my immortality to help with the war effort, by going where other men couldn't, going back in again and again." So cocky. So sure of himself.

"Except it lost me her. I died, and they told her, and then I couldn't go back. Not until enough time had passed that I could pretend to be my own son."

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readystopwatch
2016-12-22 01:43 pm UTC (link)

"I remember." And he remembers the look on Jack's face the night she died, too.

It's tempting to ask more, to find out how many people he's loved over the years, how many children he's had, how many of them he's buried. But he's not sure he really wants to now. What they have now seems more important than his past. He'll hear what Jack wants to share, but he doesn't need to ask about the details of every single photo.

"Were you working for Torchwood then?"

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foreverjack
2016-12-23 05:42 am UTC (link)

Perhaps now is more important than a rollcall of all the other people he's loved in the past. Each of them ended in its own way, and in the end that's what it comes down to. Each love has its time, and then it's gone. All he can do is make the most of the time he has with each of them.

He shakes his head. "Not at that point, no. No undercover missions to kill aliens behind the Nazi menace or anything. Just me trying to be the best I could be, in the Doctor's memory."

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readystopwatch
2016-12-23 10:53 am UTC (link)

His thoughts are along the same line. It makes him turn so he's fully in Jack's embrace so he can pull him in and kiss him, long and slow and intimate. It's not that he doesn't want to hear about he past, more that he wants to make sure Jack knows it doesn't affect his feelings towards him, and that it doesn't make him think about the future and the fact that for Jack he's already another lost face in those photos. He wonders if his picture would have one day been added to the box.

"I love you for that. For being your best. I always have." For being a hero. For always doing what's right.

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foreverjack
2016-12-23 12:09 pm UTC (link)

In the reflective mood he's in, the embrace and the long, slow kiss feels perfect. He wraps his arms around Ianto and falls easily into the kissed, grateful for the comfort and unconditional love he's being given. Yes, Ianto would have been another of the photos in the box if it hadn't already been lost when he died. This is a very nice reminder that here, he's not dead, but very much alive and in his arms.

"You too," he says, muffled against Ianto's skin. "You've gone out and fought so many times, even though you were never really trained for it."

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readystopwatch
2016-12-23 12:19 pm UTC (link)

"It was easy when I was following you." Even if he knows that's exactly what will lead to his death, to him just being another name on that list of people Jack has lost. It makes him hold him closer, letting him feel that's he's real and solid and here. That for now that loss hasn't happened, and that he finally gets a second chance.

"I know it must be hard, opening your heart to someone you know you'll lose one day. Thank you for thinking I'm worth it." Even if he's not entirely sure what Jack sees in him most days.

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	foreverjack 2016-12-23 03:44 pm UTC (link)
	That's just a little bit too close to a reminder of how he ended up dying, far too soon, and Jack pauses for a moment, swallowing it down, before the renewed tightness of Ianto's hug gets through to him and he relaxes somewhat. Then lets out a surprised laugh at that last part. "Of course you're worth it! Your're - you're one of the best people I know!" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

readystopwatch
2016-12-23 03:53 pm UTC (link)

It Ian a bit to close and he finds he's trembling. A few deep breaths, a determined focus to pay attention to the sweet sentiment of Jack's words rather than the dark turn his thoughts have taken and he's more or less alright again. He even manages a faint smile.

"I'm glad you think that. I'm glad we've made it this far." Now kiss me until I can't think about anything but how much I love you remains unsaid but very much apparent.

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	foreverjack 2016-12-23 04:29 pm UTC (link)
	"A lot of that's down to you and your patience with me," Jack points out, because he knows he'd never have found himself happily monogamous without Ianto's gentle guidance. He moves a hand to cradle Ianto's jaw affectionately as he leans in again, because that kiss definitely needs to happen, for him just as much as Ianto. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

readystopwatch
2016-12-23 04:38 pm UTC (link)

"We compliment each other well that way." They bring out the best in each other, they always have.

He leans into the kiss, pressing closer against him, hands reaching down to rest on Jack's waist, pulling him closer. He finds he needs the closeness just now with the mood that sad little box of photos has put him in. Up until now the bet with Spike has been fun, this is the first moment he finds himself regretting it, wanting more than just kisses. Then again, they did make that trip to the Plush Rump the other day. Perhaps they can make use of what they bought.

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foreverjack
2016-12-24 05:49 am UTC (link)

He chuckles into the kiss in agreement with that sentiment and then lets himself sink into the kiss. For the moment, he's not really thinking any further than just reconnecting and enjoying Ianto's love - the love that he still has, as a contrast to all those past loves in the box.

Not, at least, until Ianto pulls him closer and he feels Ianto's cock stir against him, his own twitching in empathy. He grins against Ianto's lips and drops his hands to Ianto's ass to pull him in tighter, bodies flush against each other. And slides his mouth round to murmur in Ianto's ear, "Am I going to have to get out that cock cage at last, Mr Jones?"

They haven't actually got around to using it yet, after all. It would seem a shame not to make use of it before Ianto's bet with Spike expires tomorrow!

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readystopwatch
2016-12-24 09:27 am UTC (link)

It is good, holding him like this and knowing that for now he's an exception to that rule, that he's still here, that Jack didn't lose him entirely. He's always tried to make Jack's own deaths easier but it's rare that he has a day like this where it's really brought home how much this second chance must mean to him.

That question sends a shudder through his entire body which he knows for a certainty Jack can feel. It wasn't something g he was thinking about before they started looking at these pictures be now, with thoughts of death and loneliness on his mind he does want some sort of sexual release, just to remind them both there alive and here and have each other. "Only if you think I've earned it."

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foreverjack
2016-12-25 04:52 am UTC (link)

Although getting the box really is making him happy, it's also making him remember death and sadness, and Jack could certainly use the distraction too.

He chuckles, hands roving over Ianto's ass. "Depends on how you look at it! Have you been annoying or naughty enough to deserve being teased and fucked without release? Nah. Have you been gorgeous and wonderful enough to deserve a whole lot of stimulation without having to worry about being able to come? I think so, don't you?"

Besides, although there was the rather lovely handjob in the shower and an equally lovely couple of blowjobs from Ianto in the interim, he hasn't actually fucked him for days, and - well. He does like fucking!

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readystopwatch
2016-12-25 08:24 pm UTC (link)

It is funny - but perhaps entirely predictable - how many sexual situations he's found himself in over the past five days. It's included what he thinks must be a record number of blowjobs between Jack and Spike and while he is already looking far too forward to their surprise for tomorrow what suggestion does get a needy whimper from him as Jack's hands roam lower. It's he perfect thing to take his mind off those photographs of dead lovers and knowing he's another name on that list.

He tugs at Jack's shirt, pulling him closer and away from the box at the same time, nodding in desperation. "I think I could use that right about now."

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foreverjack
2016-12-26 04:47 am UTC (link)

He goes willingly. Hell, when is he ever going to be unwilling to share intimacy and pleasure with Ianto? Tempting, too, to dive into another long and increasingly heated kiss, but there are other matters that need addressing first.

"In that case, we'd better go and get the cage before you get any harder. It's really difficult to get those things on once you're hard!"

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readystopwatch
2016-12-26 09:26 am UTC (link)

He's long used to Jack speaking from experience she. It comes to everything related to sex so he doesn't remark on how he knows that, and just nods, still clinging to him as they make their way towards the bedroom. He's a bit surprised by how much those photos affected him but maybe it makes sense. If he hadn't know how he dies and how far in the future from him Jack is he doubts they would have bothered him at all.

He lets Jack find the toy they bought the other day, finally letting go of him only so he can start slowly and precisely removing his suit. "Just tell me what to do. You know I've never used one of these before."