What I did on my Suspension - Chapter 6/13 + Epilogue

[kitty_scribble]

Title: What I did on my Suspension
Beta: The amazing, wonderful and fabulous jooles34
Characters: Ianto/OMC, mentions of Ianto/Lisa, Ianto/OFC and Janto
Words: 2474 (a short one)
Rating,Warnings: I'm bad with ratings, urm, possibly PG-13. Some rude words.
Disclaimer:Whilst I do claim to own my ocs, I don't own the world or characters of Torchwood, but they all play so well together that it would be mean to split them up!
Summary: Ianto decides to use his suspension to reconnect with himself
Spoilers: None that I can think of. Unless you've never seen TW or Who.

Here we have another chapter, with flashback *grins*. The next chapter will be up next week!

And comments please me in ways you cannot imagine *grin*

Ianto rinsed his face and stared at himself in the mirror. He looked better for the food, and the sleep. The dark circles that had seemed to be perpetually around his eyes had almost disappeared and his skin was looking less sallow. Just a few hours in their company and he was already relaxing, unbending and becoming the Ianto that he had left behind in the wreckage of Torchwood One. Oddly, he felt further away from Torchwood’s sphere of influence here than anywhere else.

Glancing over at the dresser, he noticed there was a photo of him aged 16 on there. It was from the first time he’d ever been out with Lucca, and he was surprised at how young he looked. Smiling to himself, he thought back to that summer, when he’d first met Lucca and fallen down this rabbit hole.

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Ianto Jones was suffocating, everything felt too small; the house, the street, school, everything. He felt that if he could just push, just a little, he would be able to breathe. There had to be more out there, there really did. He was dying on this estate.

He sighed and kicked his heels against the low wall that he was sat on. Truth was, he was bored, utterly and unrepentantly bored. It had been six months since his court date; six very long months, in which he had gained a strict curfew, a need to provide a blow by blow account as to where he had been and had lost the ability to see his friends as he had been labelled a ‘Bad Influence’.

He booted the wall with more force, taking grim pleasure in the flakes of brick dust and mortar that fell. He took another drag on his cigarette. At least now he was 16 he didn’t have to worry about nicking his dad’s fags, he could buy his own. The small act of rebellion didn’t help with the crushing boredom and underlying feeling of resentment that was burning in him.

It was so unfair, he shouldn’t have got caught. If only Laurie hadn’t been such a twat and given every ‘I’m about to take stuff’ signal in the book. If Phil hadn’t been a complete flake and told them it was all Ianto’s idea. If he hadn’t hung out with such utter morons. If… “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” His mum’s words remembered floated back to him. He gave a wry smile and took another drag. He took a guilty look round to see if anyone was watching.

He needn’t have worried; very few people were about at that time in the morning. Despite it being about 10am and it being sunny, and at the start of the holidays as well, the park was relatively deserted.

It was a faded reminder of a forgotten play area. Since the larger Rec had opened in a blaze of glory a couple of years ago most people went there. Here there were only a few swings, a lopsided slide and an ancient horse rocker thing that had been there longer than Ianto had been alive. Among the standard swings and roundabout, the new place had a ball pool, water park, café, adventure area, buzz slide. This place couldn’t compete, but Ianto loved it. It was his quiet place where he could escape from home, from school, from friends; from his life really. It gave him a place to think without his father constantly breathing down his neck about “being part of the family” and “why can’t you be more like your sister, she never gives us any trouble?”

It wasn’t Rhi’s fault really, but she was constantly held over him as an example of the perfect child. She wasn’t overly rebellious, studied hard, did well at school, was polite in company and always helpful. He was sulky, surly and felt like a square peg in a round hole. Especially around his family. He knew his father thought he was a great disappointment. He wasn’t really interested in ‘traditional’ boy things. Oh, he knew how to change a plug, and a car tyre and adored rugby (well, he was Welsh), but he wasn’t blokie. He knew he wasn’t going to be one of those boyos down the pub with his da on a Saturday. He had plans, plans that were going to take him away from this stupid estate. He kicked the wall again.

The wall that Ianto was sat on ran around the edge of the park, higher on one side than the other. It separated the play area from the picnic area, although ‘picnic area’ was a bit grand for the couple of weather-worn tables with integral benches. It afforded him a sense of privacy as well as giving him a clear view over the park. There was no one about really; a couple of people walking dogs were the only things that disturbed the peace. This had been Their Place, his and the boys, until it all went to shit. He’d hoped they’d still come regardless, like he had, but they hadn’t ever come back. They had drifted away since he came back from the detention centre, the glamour of stealing paled when they saw the result of getting caught.

Ianto reached the end of his cigarette and stubbed it out angrily, throwing it over the wall. He just wanted something to happen, something that would take him away from all this. His mind ran over the ‘it’s not fair’ argument again and then started to create scenarios in which he showed them. He wasn’t really sure who ‘they’ were though. Sometimes it was his father, sometimes his so-called mates, sometimes it was everyone at school and everyone on the damn estate. Most of the time he just got caught up in getting out and becoming successful and then returning to show off how well he’d done.

He lit another cigarette and grinned, losing himself in the happy reverie of being rich, adored and everyone being envious of him. He came back to the present when he suddenly realised that someone was walking towards him. At first he thought they were just walking in his general direction, or were possibly a dog walker whose dog had run off, but the fact that they were moving quite determinedly in his direction put paid to those ideas. Plus they weren’t dressed for dog walking. It was a man, possibly a student judging by the clothes. He was dressed all in black; black leather jacket, black jeans, black tee and huge boots. His hair was short, spiky and dark, and he was the coolest person Ianto had ever seen. ‘What’s someone like him doing here?’ he wondered.

The guy was coming closer and Ianto realised that he was big, not in a muscular way, but in an incredibly tall way. Ianto was tall for his age, over 6 foot, but this guy made him feel tiny. He wondered if it was the boots and glanced down, but the boots had a normal sole, just more buckles and metal than the average pair.

“Hey kid!” the guy called out “Couldn’t bum a fag off you could I?”

Ianto jumped, realising that he’d been staring and also that he was being talked to.

“Urmm, urmm…” He looked at the packet of ten that he’d bought yesterday and winced when he saw he was down to his last three. “Urm, I don’t know. I’ve only got a few left.”

“I’ll pay you back.”

The voice was a lot closer now, and Ianto looked up to find the stranger stood in front of him, looking down at him with green eyes sparkling with amusement.

“N-no worries. Here, s’ok.” mumbled Ianto, offering the packet.

“Shit kid, tens? Are you old enough to be smoking?”

Elegant fingers plucked a cigarette out of the packet before Ianto could pull it back.

“I’m 16.” said Ianto brusquely, ramming the packet back into his pocket.

The stranger took an ornate lighter out of his coat pocket, lit the cigarette and took a long drag.

“Oh I am so going to pay for this later, but it’s so worth it.” The stranger tipped his head back, closed his eyes and exhaled. He cocked his head towards Ianto and opened an eye. “Mind if I join you?”

“Knock yourself out,” Ianto muttered “I was just leaving.”

“Not on my account I hope,” he replied, sitting on the grass with his back against the wall by Ianto’s legs.

Up close, Ianto could see that his face had remnants of make-up on it, namely smudgy eyeliner and mascara, which just made the green eyes stand out even more. And right now, those green eyes with twinkling at him.

“See something you like?” the stranger asked.

Ianto looked away quickly, blushing furiously and annoyed at himself for both the blush and being caught staring. The stranger chuckled and this only added to Ianto’s annoyance. He made to jump off the wall, only to be stopped by the stranger’s hand on his arm.

“I meant it, don’t go on my account.” Ianto looked up from the hand on his arm and was surprised when the green eyes showed concern.

“S’ok,” Ianto mumbled, blushing even harder.

The grin that was shot his way almost blinded him in its intensity.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot. Sorry, totally my fault. I’m Lucca by the way.”

“Jones, Ianto Jones,” Ianto said automatically holding out his hand.

Lucca stared at it for a moment, seemed to make a decision and shook it, firmly and quickly.

“Cool watch.” Ianto gestured to the large brown leather strap on Lucca’s arm.

“Yeah, it’s, erm… foreign.” Lucca pulled the arm of his jacket back over it. “Well, now that the introductions are out of the way, what are you doing out here so early on a Saturday morning? I’m guessing it’s not the walk of shame.”

Ianto noticed the change of subject, and decided to go with it. Inwardly he cursed himself for being such a geek over the watch; the guy probably thought he was a complete nerd now.

“Is… is that why you’re here? Walk of shame?”

“Yup.” Lucca grinned at him. “And I’m not the kind of guy to kiss and tell, so don’t ask me.” And then he leaned into Ianto and whispered. “Twins.” Then he pulled back grinning wolfishly. “So why you here?”

Ianto didn’t want to say that he had been moping so he just made a non-committal noise and then left them sitting in the strangely companionable silence, smoking together and enjoying the early morning sun. All too soon they came to the end of their cigarettes and Lucca pushed himself off the ground elegantly.

“Well, best go and face the music.”

“Parents?” enquired Ianto sympathetically. He missed Lucca’s eyebrows raise is sudden understanding

“Worse, cousin.” Lucca pulled a face and made to turn away.

“Wait!” Ianto surprised himself with the cry. “Are you on holiday here or something?”

Even as he said it, he knew it was a stupid statement. Who would holiday here? Swansea or Mumbles he could understand, but the ‘burbs of Cardiff? No way. Lucca looked back at him, eyebrows raised and Ianto rushed to explain himself.

“It’s just that I’ve not seen you ‘round here before and Lucca isn’t a typical Welsh name. Or English for that matter.”

Lucca laughed.

“Nah kid, I’m not Welsh, or English,” he muttered something Ianto couldn’t catch. “We moved here a while ago.”

There was a smirk playing over his lips as he spoke, then he turned, took two steps back to Ianto and leaned into him.

“And I’ll definitely be seeing you again Jones, Ianto Jones,” he breathed.

Ianto stared up at him mouth open. Lucca gently closed his mouth.

“Don’t want you catching flies.” Then he winked and set off across the field.

Ianto sat there, dumbfounded, watching as the tall figure bounded off and out of the park. He ran through the events in his head. He was fairly sure that that had been a blatant come-on, and oddly the thought of seeing Lucca again made his mind race. And he smelt good, really, really good; better than anyone, ever. Ianto wanted that aftershave; he’d be irresistible with that. He smiled and thought about the girls at school falling over themselves to talk to him, to have a chance of going out with him. He was shocked as his reverie was pierced by a pair of sparkling green eyes.

‘Fuck,’ thought Ianto, unconsciously rearranging himself in jeans that were suddenly too tight. He tried to go back to the thoughts of girls, but the green eyes and smirk refused to give up the hold on his subconscious. Ianto wasn’t terribly conflicted, he’d known that he liked both girls and boys for a couple of years now; he’d finally admitted it to himself after he and his mother had that talk. Generally he focussed on girls; it made life a lot easier when he didn’t have to worry about being beaten up in the showers after games. Besides, he reasoned, this was something to explore at uni, after all, that’s what uni was for. That and reinventing yourself.

And now, now, he had a stunningly attractive man making a possible pass at him. His insides twisted, half in fear, half in excitement. He wondered whether he would ever see Lucca again. Sure he’d said that he would definitely be seeing Ianto again, but that was no guarantee of anything. He’d never seen him before and he had no way of contacting him. His brain split into several parts, one part telling him that this had been a one-time only thing and he shouldn’t make anything of it; one part saying that he was bound to see Lucca again; and a very small part asking what he was going to do when he saw him. How far was he willing to go? How far would it go? What did he actually want to happen?

The questions swam round and round Ianto’s head as he smoked the last of his cigarettes. By the time he had reached the end, he had made a decision. No matter what happened, when he next saw Lucca he would just go with the flow. He had a feeling that he was teetering on a once in a lifetime opportunity and he was going to grab it with both hands. His mum always said that people come into your life for a reason and he wondered whether he had been sent this man to make up for losing his friends. He smiled to himself as he pushed off the wall and headed for home. It looked like this summer wasn’t going to be so dull after all!

Comments

[triquetralin.livejournal.com]

Absolutely wonderful, again, and a completely believable 16-year-old Ianto!

I so needed this today to avoid contemplating what I'll do if all the files on my newly-crashed hard drive are really gone... Thank you for cheering me up a bit!

[kitty-scribble.livejournal.com]

Glad I could cheer you up a bit *grin* Hopefully the hard drive is salvage-able! *crosses everything*