othercaptjack | (no subject)

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milliways

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Jack has spent the last couple of weeks in a strange balance between relaxing and becoming increasingly stressed. The Doctor is conspicuously absent, and it seems almost certain that if he wants to get back to his home universe - Cardiff or otherwise - he needs to go out to the same place he came in from.

That wasn't fun last time.

So instead of going over options in his head again, he's sitting in his new room drafting a hugely belated resignation letter to Lilly - she's another one he can't find.

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"Okay, I think. I'm not nauseous or anything. Just a headache."

He touches Jack's hair in a silent thank you.

Jack half-smiles up at him, still holding the towel on.

"Good," he says. "We'll leave a message about this demon later. People will need a heads-up if it comes back."

"All right. I don't know if security can do anything about it, though."

"They can be aware," Jack says.

"And some of the patrons may pitch in, if this thing is that powerful. They do, on occasion."

By they, Jack means 'we.' Even in his immoral, irresponsible youth, he has his uncontrollably heroic moments.

Ianto glances at him and smiles. "I'm sure they do."

Jack nods.

"What's your friend's name?" he asks.

Might as well be thorough.

"Sam. Sam Winchester. Tall bloke--like, tall, and messy dark hair."

He hasn't met him. Jack is uncomfortably aware that that will make it easier to shoot him if it comes down to that at any point.

But hopefully it will be taken out of his hands.

"Right." He carefully lifts the towel up. The heat of Ianto's body has taken the chill from it somewhat, and some of the redness around the bruising has gone down.

"How's it looking?" Ianto asks quietly.

"Could be worse," Jack says quietly.

"I'm going to run this under the tap again. Don't go anywhere."

"Yes, Captain." He draws the blanket a little closer around himself. "I'd like to stay with you tonight. Is that all right?"

"Of course it is," Jack says, then smiles crookedly. "At least the bed's roomier in here."

Ianto smiles and starts untying his shoes. "I don't the small one, either."

Jack eyebrows back at him, returning with the towel. It's something, that Ianto's steady enough to smile now.

"Here we go. One more time can't hurt."

"It's helping," Ianto says, bracing himself for the cold.

"Sorry," Jack says as he applies it again. His fingertips are already going decidedly tingly with cold, so things can't be much better for Ianto.

"You know, we can probably find you a magical healer, here. If you'd rather not bother with these."

A light finger traces the edge of a particularly discoloured place.

"I think I'd rather avoid magic for a while," Ianto says, starting to sound sleepy. "I'll be better tomorrow."

"I can understand that," Jack says, shifting to one hand on the towel in order to brush his thumb gently over Ianto's cheek.

It's probably rather cold. Sorry, Ianto.

Ianto is quite all right with that, if his answering smile is any indication.

"Give me five minutes to leave a note downstairs?" Jack asks, after a moment.

"People should know about this."

"Yes, of course," Ianto says. "Try not to frighten anyone, Jack."

"Well, there goes the standing on a chair with a megaphone option," Jack says dryly. "I'll just put down what we know. Won't be long."

He heads out, locking the door behind him.

It's another perk of Milliways that he's managed to code it to the technology in his wrist strap, and the door itself is... sturdy. Anyone apart from him trying to get into that room is not going to meet with much success.

Ianto lies back, holding the cold towel to his bruises, far safer than he knows.

Caring is sealing your bruised and possibly concussed boyfriend in a locked room under heavy encryption without his knowledge?

Jack's morals, if they have shifted since he was last in Milliways, are still highly questionable.

The note hardly took long to leave, so it is pretty much exactly five minutes later that the door opens again, after a few quiet but definitely technological-sounding noises that are Jack bypassing his inbuilt security to get back in.

"Satisfied you've done your civic duty?" Ianto murmurs and smiles at him a little. He's gotten under the covers and has laid a dry towel over the damp one.

He can do a lot in five minutes. He's Ianto Jones.