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tampered2009-04-25 12:31 pm
handsomejack.livejournal.com) wrote in tampered2009-04-25 12:31 pm
Log: Complete
When; After Jack has returned from the Major's tender care
Rating; PG-13 for swearing and sexual themes
Characters; Ianto Jones![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
king_coffee, Kyle Brooks justashow and Captain Jack Harkness handsomejack
Summary; Jack gets home and helps smooth the tensions between Kyle and Ianto
Log;
There were times when facing down an army of undead vampire Nazis was easier than trying to maintain a relationship. Not that Jack was about to mention this thoughtout loud as he imagined that both Kyle and Ianto would take turns tying his dick in a knot.
Carefully picking his way up over the sand dune located in front of the house, Jack spied his Armani wearing quarry just over the edge, down where the soft sand leveled back out. At least Kyle had brought a blanket, probably to protect his slacks.
Sliding down the dune, Jack walked so that he came up in front of Kyle and stopped with a half smile.
"Hey, mind if I join you?"
He was prepared to be told to fuck off but was hoping otherwise.
Kyle had to think about it for a few minutes. On the one hand, knowing Jack was alive and close by and not a ghoulish vampire thing or half-crazed from torture could only be a comfort. On the other hand, part of him wanted to kill the immortal himself for putting them through this.
And that part was screaming for Kyle to shove Jack into the ocean.
Eventually he nodded and shifted to the side a little to make room. He could at least let Jack attempt...whatever it was he was attempting by searching Kyle out.
"Go ahead."
Not exactly a warm and fuzzy greeting but not a shove into the ocean either. Jack would take it.
Folding his coat around himself, Jack settled down on the bit of blanket Kyle had made available and got himself comfortable. Then, he looked out across the blue ocean and tried to put some sort of order to his thoughts.
"You're pretty upset with me, aren't you?" He asked softly.
Replying with What was your first clue would be childish. So Kyle didn't. He dug his fingers into the sand instead and probably ruined his perfectly buffed nails.
"It's a perfectly normal thing to be upset about," he said instead. Even if Ianto didn't agree, Kyle thought he should at least get to feel upset when people he loves go off to effectively commit suicide, granted in the name of heroic self-sacrifice.
"And you haven't given me a reason not to be."
Quiet for a few minutes, it was probably obvious that Jack was working some things out in his head as he went along. Perhaps, even more so than he ever had when he and Kyle talked in the past.
"I don't know that I'll be able to," Jack said eventually. "Because in the end, the decision is always going to be yours on whether what I say is a good enough reason to live through this."
Turning his head slightly, Jack had taken those minutes and carefully stripped away more of the masks that he wore without thought. Leaving exposed the vulnerability and also the aching loneliness he lived with. He did it, not for sympathy but to show Kyle that this idea, that Kyle, that Ianto, that Gwen could decide he was too much trouble and leave him at any point, was a fear that he lived with every waking moment of his life.
"But if you want to listen, I'll try?"
Kyle regarded him gravely for a few moments. Already it was hard to look at Jack and keep his smooth, unshakable expression. He'd perfected it for years in the courtroom, he'd displayed it for werewolves and fae, he'd tested it against his sister every time she mentioned his parents and it never failed him.
And yet, since he'd come to the City all Jack had been doing was stripping away Kyle's masks along with his own. Kyle didn't think it was fair.
"I'm already listening, aren't I?" he said with a sigh, shifting his gaze to the stars which were a much safer thing to look at.
"I'm not the one who needs to decide what he wants to live through, Jack."
Kyle's profile was beautiful, lit as it was and turned up towards the night sky and Jack smiled softly for a moment before turning to look back out over the ocean.
"Yes, you are." He reiterated. "I don't have a choice, well I suppose I have choices but none of them are ones I'd make as the man I am today but you do have a choice, because I know I'm not an easy man to live with."
As Ianto and Gwen could attest.
Taking a breath, Jack leaned back on his palms and looked up at the night sky, strange, alien and utterly fascinating to him.
"Do you know what it's like, to think in four dimensions, Kyle? To not only be aware of where you are, what is happening but also when in the process of time?"
It was a rhetorical question, letting Jack get started on a topic that seemed so very broad.
"The Doctor, though he looks human, is not. He's an alien, a Time Lord. He was born and raised a Time Lord, given the foundation of a being who is meant to live through multiple regenerations, up to and beyond a thousand years."
Pausing, Jack let a moment of envy wash over him and then quickly brushed it away.
"Even though, I was born in the 51st century, with all it's changes and all it's advances for the human race, I was born human. I was born to live maybe 100 years and spent much of my youth doing mydamnedest to shorten that number by a few decades. I was never raised to live beyond my own time, beyond my own people. I was never given the tools to cope with that possibility, it just didn't exist."
Sitting up, Jack grabbed up a bit of drift wood and began to work patterns into the sand.
"And I did things in my mortal life that to say I am not proud of is an understatement. I was the boogyman in the closet, the monster under the bed. I made arrogant decisions and craved indulgent acts, the likes of which Earth has no known law to punish."
A flash back to the man who had kidnapped Ianto and those memories, things he shied away from talking about with everyone, the Doctor knowing only because, the Doctor just knew things. Taking a deep breath, Jack stabbed the sand.
"I was good at it and I liked it. At that time, that man craved the power, washed himself in the cruelty that made him stronger. The darkness gives you a certain strength and it can be intoxicating. Can and was."
And why was he explaining this, admitting it to Kyle? Jack looked over at Kyle, his face pale in the light from the stars.
"You have to understand, Kyle. I live with that monster in my head and in my soul. He is me and sometimes I draw on that strength but most of the time I wrestle against that part of me and with the help of the Doctor, of Torchwood ... so far I am winning. But it's not death I fear anymore. It's losing the ability to keep myself in check."
He paused, there was more but he figured he better give a chance for Kyle to process it in bits, ask questions if he wished ... walk away, if he wanted.
Kyle listened, patiently, and said nothing while Jack unfolded his secrets. In some ways, it only confirmed the cold statement Ianto had made. He didn't know Jack, not really, and it sounded a little like Jack was saying that he never could know him. There was just too much distance, too many years, too many experiences that Kyle's mind couldn't absorb. He was barely touching the end of his twenties and Jack had seen centuries pass.
And yet he couldn't even reach as close as Ianto. So Kyle listened and nodded and thought with despair that this was maybe the conversational equivalent of coming home to find all of your possessions neatly packed away into suitcases at the top of the stairs.
Because Kyle recognized and witnessed every day the many ways in which he wasn't ever going to be enough to keep anyone. Warren's sanity required his pack and Adam more than it required Kyle. And it seemed that Jack's sanity required him to go off every so often and do daft and dangerous things in order to prove to himself that he wasn't a monster.
Because just Kyle saying so wouldn't be enough.
"The first time I saw Warren change, I ran away." Kyle confessed it softly, drawing his knees up to his chest and tucking his arms around them.
"I ran because just for a tiny moment I...I didn't see Warren anymore. It was just some savage beast and I knew it could kill me, knew I was less than nothing and I had to get away. So I left him there. After he'd been brave enough to risk himself by showing me his real self, I left him there and I didn't call for three days."
It had been the longest three days of Kyle's life.
"And when I saw him again, I still didn't know if I could handle what I knew about him. That the person I loved wasn't human, that he was going to outlive me by centuries, that suddenly there was this whole world I needed to be aware of and be careful in now, it seemed...so overwhelming. But I..."
Kyle's lips twisted and the stars seemed to blur above him. He ducked his head and was grateful that he'd let his hair grow longer these past few months. He could hide behind his bangs now.
"I got over it. I did. And now there's no way I could ever see Warren as a monster. And I'd never believe that he could hurt me. And I want to tell him that he's human, human, always human to me and it's still not enough."
Jack could say he was a monster inside all he wanted. Kyle was simply not going to believe it. But all of that didn't matter, because Kyle was never the one Jack wanted that kind of reassurance from.
He gave the other man an accusing, wet-lashed look.
"You didn't even give me the chance to ask you to stay."
Now it was Jack's turn to listen and he felt his chest tighten when he saw the evidence of moisture on Kyle's eyelashes. He wanted to reach out and wrap his arm around the younger man but wasn't sure it was the right thing to do at this moment. Still, he had to touch him and lifted a hand to lightly brush his fingertips against the side of Kyle's hair.
"Maybe because I'm afraid to say 'I can't' to you," he said. "That and well I have a bad habit of bolting off without warning. Gwen and Ianto would no doubt take your side in wanting to kick that nonsense out of my head."
Lowering his hand, Jack looked back out at the ocean.
"When Gray buried me, John later noted that I never struggled. I told him that I accepted my brother's hatred, his need to punish me as my penance for the wrong I did to him, in letting him go."
Taking a deep breath, Jack made himself look back to Kyle, look him straight in the face.
"I think the argument could be made that with all the death and suffering that is at my feet, I sometimes go overboard on the heroics in an attempt to make peace with the blood and tears on my hands. Sometimes, it's for the right reasons, like this past week but I've been thinking and I realize that I've also done some of this for the very wrong reasons and it makes sense that you'd have a hard time trusting my judgement."
Eyes still on Kyle's face, Jack let the younger man a little further in, past the smiles and shadows that normally lurked in his face.
"I truly am sorry for the time I let Cindy kill me. It was arrogant, prideful and worst of all horrifically thoughtless of me."
He paused, to let that sincere apology stand on it's own, then continued.
"There are times, like this past week, when the decision I make will hurt those I love but will be for the right reasons. But that was a time when I hurt you and Ianto for no good reason and I ... I don't ever know if I'll be able to express to you two enough, how much I regret it."
Kyle breathed quietly as he felt that touch on his hair, trying to push back the tears so very close to spilling over. He didn't cry. He never cried, and yes maybe once in a while his eyes watered a little but he could always control it.
He thought back to that day, to his timid question of whether it was worth it to keep on living. At the time, he thought that Jack answered that question, but as months went on, Kyle realized that maybe he hadn't. Or maybe he hadn't answered the way Kyle wanted him to.
Because Kyle also remembered the look in Jack's eyes on the day the City had turned him mortal and that naked longing in his expression, and he felt almost sick to his stomach with the knowledge that no matter how much he loved Jack, there was the strong possibility that Jack wanted to die more than he wanted to be with Kyle.
And the worst part was, he couldn't really blame Jack. It frustrated him beyond measure to discuss immortality with both of his lovers...hell, with all three of them, because he understood, really he did. But he couldn't change the way he felt about being left behind.
Jack relied on Torchwood and the Doctor to keep him human. Not Kyle. It was selfish and stupid to feel betrayed by that, but Kyle did.
"It's not about trust," Kyle said, gulping his breaths now. "I don't even know what it's about. I just...it's been such a horrible..."
Oh god, he was selfish and stupid. Every word just emphasized that. Kyle wished he could stop talking.
"You're always leaving where I can't follow. I don't care what the reasons are. It hurts."
This time, Jack couldn't help himself and he reached out to draw Kyle under his arm and against his body, ever protective even if this was something he couldn't necessarily protect Kyle from. Had Jack known the other man's thoughts, he'd have explained that in his eyes, Kyle was Warren's link to his humanity, Kyle was Warren's and would go back to Warren and when that time came, Jack wanted to know he'd kept Kyle safe for Warren, rather than breaking him utterly.
"I know," he said softly, pressing a kiss to the top of Kyle's head. He did know, also. Had felt that sense of hurt when the Doctor and Rose had taken off without him.
"It's hard, not to want to protect you that I guess I'm guilty of losing sight of the line between protecting and shutting out and I'm sorry about that, Kyle. It's not my intention, it's just there is so much out there and it's my job to protect you, Ianto, Gwen ..."
Sighing softly, Jack rested his cheek against Kyle's soft hair.
"I suppose I'm a little spoiled, because Gwen and Ianto kick me in the shins when I'm being too overprotective," sometimes it didn't do much good but it at least got Jack to think when they did it.
"I know I don't deserve you, any of you. I can't even promise that I wouldn't do the same thing again, if needed. Sometimes, Kyle ... sometimes I wish I could. Sometimes I have someone in my life and I want to just say 'screw the Universe, I'm taking this lifetime off'' but it doesn't work that way."
Jack's voice hitched a little, maybe Kyle wasn't allowing himself to cry but Jack could feel the warmth of salty tears on his cheek. He knew it was hard to live with him, to love him. He could remember every lover he'd lost or let walk away from him, because the lies, the secrets, the priorities had finally overcome the love and the lust. He didn't begrudge any of them, their choice, hell Jack wasn't sure he'd put up with himself if he was in their shoes.
But they always took a part of him with them.
Kyle hated losing control of his emotions. He hated feeling exposed and raw and he especially hated the way crying made his nose run so that he looked disgusting. If it were anyone but Jack, Kyle would have run away by now. People just weren't allowed to see a Brooks like this.
But it had been so long without Jack and Kyle hadn't slept and he'd fallen out with Ianto so many times simply because he felt so alone that he couldn't run. Not now.
The downside was, Jack's coat was probably getting wet, and some part of Kyle felt absolutely humiliated while the rest of him didn't care.
"Why do you always wait until after you do something stupid to talk to me?" Kyle sniffled into a great coat lapel with a little grumble.
Tightening his arm around Kyle, Jack pulled him closer inching him towards his lap.
"Because I'm usually too busy doing something stupid?" He offered lamely.
Unfortunately it was also true. Jack was used to being the Captain and even the Doctor occasionally had to thump him on the head to remind him to 'listen' every so often.
Kyle couldn't help the snort of laughter, even as more tears ran down his cheeks.
"Idiot," he said, not without a certain fondness. It was probably easy for the Captain to shift him. Kyle had been pulling double, sometimes triple laps along his favorite running paths the past week, trying to flee his fears.
Add to that some sparse food intake and you had a slightly underweight lawyer.
"You know there's a chance that if you talk to me before hand, I might not worry so goddamn much when you do these things."
Given some of the names occasionally flung at his head, Jack would take an idiot as a Godsend.
Tugging the underweight -hmmm- lawyer up onto his lap, Jack employed the lethal coat snuggle action and wrapped both arms around him.
"That, I can try to be better about," he admitted. He'd called Gwen and Ianto because they were his team and it was automatic for him to do that but he could try harder next time to make sure he contacted Kyle as well.
Sighing softly, Jack kissed Kyle's temple and then leaned his forehead against the other man's.
"I know that this isn't easy, Kyle." He said softly. "And it's a lot to ask of you, to stay with us but we do love you and bring so much to our lives, I can't give you many brilliant reasons to stay but ... please?"
"Idiot," Kyle pronounced again, swallowing a sob. "I was an absolute wreck while you were gone and you think you need to ask me to stay? Where the hell else am I going to go? You made me need you, so deal with the consequences."
No, he couldn't imagine leaving. He could imagine his heart breaking in a thousand different ways, but he could never imagine leaving.
Granted, that was if Ianto still wanted him to stay.
"Things fell apart," Kyle whispered, a little guiltily. "I couldn't put them back together. I didn't know how, and you weren't there."
Jack winced as he listened to Kyle. He honestly hadn't realized how deeply important he was to the younger man. Had thought that so long as Ianto and Kyle had each other to lean on, they would both be okay.
Well, he'd hoped that at least.
"I'm sorry, Kyle." He whispered, hugging the other man close. "I keep forgetting that Ianto can anchor himself in his Captain's orders, in his Captain's leadership but that you don't have that same touchstone to fall back on."
It would be all right, Jack would make it all right. He owed both of the men in his life nothing less.
"I couldn't make him understand," Kyle said, shaking his head. "And he couldn't make me understand. And we just kept fighting and fighting."
Warren had always been able to sniff out the real issues underlying Kyle's sometimes snappish ways and twisting double talk. He knew when the younger man was afraid and not really angry, and when to push like an alpha. Kyle had been waiting desperately for Ianto to stop him, to figure out what was going on beneath without the humiliation of Kyle having to say it and possibly be rejected.
It didn't work out very well. Kyle knew it was as much his fault, but he didn't know how to fix it or even if it could be fixed.
Usually Kyle and Ianto had the common chew toy of Jack to run interference. Without him there, Jack could see how these two stubborn young men might end up in a squabble of misunderstandings.
"Let's go back up to the house, sit down and talk, hmmm?"
Kyle thought part of it was probably the insane amount of stress both he and Ianto were under with Jack gone, as well as the missed sleep making them snappish and quick to take offense as much as anything.
"Wait," he said, shifting in Jack's lap so he could face the other man.
Because he hadn't had the time before, and his immediate need to make sure that yes, Jack was actually here and yes, he was still alive and still Jack hadn't been completely fulfilled yet.
Kyle's hand crept to the opening in the great coat and slipped inside to press against the Captain's chest, feel the steady heartbeat. Kyle studied the face above him, the lines and curves that made up the strong jaw, the handsome cheek bones. He pressed his nose to Jack's neck and breathed in the familiar, pleasing scent of 51rst Century pheramones.
"You're okay, right?" Kyle questioned, a fretful tone to his voice as he wandered with his hands, searching for evidence that said otherwise.
Not sure, at first, what Kyle was up to when Jack figured it out, he smiled softly and relaxed his hold so that the younger man could shift around and check for himself.
"Fit as a fiddle," he promised, though he made no move to keep Kyle from verifying his claim.
It was one nice thing about a full fledged death, usually he came back completely 'reset' but he didn't think that Kyle wanted to hear that right now and besides, the other man's hands felt very good. A definite contrast to the tender ministrations of the Major's people.
While Kyle investigated, Jack lifted a hand and brushed his fingers gently through the lawyer's blond hair. It really was getting a bit long there, wasn't it?
Well, Kyle had other things to think about recently besides fashionable haircuts, hadn't he. Still it didn't look bad on him, just a little more casual than most people would see him.
Kyle's fingers measured the broadness of Jack's shoulders, swept down to his rib cage and then always coming back to the heart where he could feel it thump. He pressed his ear to it and smiled at the rhythm he'd been missing against his cheek at night, the comforting presence who could chase the nightmares away.
Kyle took a deep breath, then another, trying to fill his lungs with Jack. He hadn't forgotten, of course. It hadn't been nearly long enough to forget, but it still felt like regaining a piece of himself that had been missing.
"You'll stay for a while now, won't you?" Because Kyle, having never been "in" on the plan, so to speak, didn't know if this was the end of the whole mess or just a mild reprieve.
The breaths were both comforting and tickled a little making Jack smile as he lightly ran his hands over Kyle's shoulders.
"I promise," he said and pulled Kyle to him for a warm hug. "Don't feel like going through anything like that any time soon."
The last words were truthfully spoken. Having gone up on the Major's ship, fought his way through the horrors that lay up there and getting the prisoners back home, Jack was ready to return to the fairly relaxed investigative work Torchwood was doing down in the sewers.
The sun was starting to warm the beach and soon there would be time for swimming in the ocean, lazing around on the sand and possibly seeing if he could talk Ianto and Kyle into sex on the beach.
What? He was a guy, yes he did think about sex every 3 minutes, especially with Kyle perched so nicely on his lap.
"Good," Kyle said, hugging back with a smile. The smile was still on his face when he pulled back a little, but it was the dangerous smile of a courtroom shark going in for the kill.
"I'm still mad at you," he warned Jack, still smiling, before he leaned forward to give a brutal, fast kiss to his lips.
"Furious, in fact." Another kiss. "And you're in such big trouble. Because you, Jack Harkness, are awful hard work."
And he bit too.
Was he in trouble? He thought he might be hearing something to that effect but there was kissing going on and Jack had been known to come back from the dead asking if he was getting a kiss!
Returning them, he couldn't help smiling and even laughing a little as he pursed his lips to return the kisses.
"Oi!" He yelped at the bite but then pulled Kyle up hard against his chest and kissed him deeply, leaning him backwards a little bit.
"But," kiss! "I'm such fun to play with at the end of the day."
"You should have all your toys taken away," Kyle muttered, between kisses. His fingernails dug into Jack's shoulders, bunching up the fabric of the great coat as he tried to keep his balance with Jack leaning him back like that.
"And be grounded. For decades. And no dessert."
Jack grinned, well it was half grin and half leer his eyebrow arching suggestively.
"No dessert at all?"
Leaning down, he snuck in a quick nibble of Kyle's exposed throat.
All of Jack's grins seemed to be half leers.
Kyle made a sound half-way between a growl and a whimper and struggled to get his upper hand back. It was more difficult with Jack leaning over him this way. The best Kyle could do was move his hips in deliberate circles and keep holding on for balance.
"You don't deserve any," Kyle said, which wasn't exactly an answer to the question. If it actually was a question.
"Not even a little nibble?" He wheedled, following the words up with action as he tracked very delicate mouse bites up along Kyle's throat to his jaw.
"No, you don't deserve the smallest scrap," Kyle replied, letting his head fall back further. He couldn't help the instinctive response.
His fingers tightened their grip.
"But that doesn't mean I can't have some. In fact, I'll have your share."
Playfully, Jack walked his fingers up along the -too thin- column of Kyle's spine till he could thrust them through blond hair, fisting it with gentle firmness. An alpha, taking the scruff of one of his wolves for submission.
He didn't say anything, just held Kyle like that, because sometimes words became burdensome and actions spoke louder. The message was hopefully clear that while they were here in the City, without Warren or even Adam here to do the job, it was Jack's job to be Kyle's alpha. To protect, love and every so often, bully him to make sure he was properly taken care of.
Kyle gasped and tested his boundaries by wriggling, not in earnest of escaping, but just to see if Jack would remain firm.
He'd needed this, all through the stress of the past week, pushing himself with the running in a way that he knew was unhealthy but had no impulse to stop, and Ianto had tried but was still hesitant to be what Kyle needed for fear that he was forcing him.
Kyle watched Jack, arched his spine and squirmed just enough to pull the long strands a bit.
Jack had no doubt that Ianto had tried his best for Kyle and if there had been hesitancy it spoke of something Jack needed to help teach the young Welshman in amongst their games. It wasn't often that he played at this sort of level, the Captain often being enough but this went back to the fact that Kyle didn't have that sort of relationship with Jack.
Tightening his hold, Jack growled softly. He had enough tension that he knew he was giving Kyle a delicate hurt in his scalp and the growl reached up into blue eyes, giving them an almost preternatural fire that came simply from Jack's human will, rather than any sort of true, supernatural element.
Gone was the earlier vulnerability, the uncertainty. At least they were back in the shadows, ever present but back under control as Jack's more aggressive personality came to the fore.
Kyle made a noise in his throat at the slight pain, his lips curving slightly in satisfaction and...yes, relief. Here he didn't have to think or worry. Ianto was wrong when he said that Kyle didn't trust Jack. When Jack was with him like this, Kyle had absolute trust. Nothing was going to hurt him, because Jack said so. Kyle was not going to hurt himself, because Jack wasn't going to let him. Here was real safety.
So Kyle gave up the tug-of-war struggle for dominance and relaxed for the first time in at least a week, perhaps more.
He stilled in Jack's hold and his body posture becoming one of willing compliance instead of challenge or struggle as he looked up at the other man.
"Kiss me?" And he was asking this time, not demanding.
Jack saw the moment of Kyle's compliance a half second before the man's body actually relaxed in his arms. He rewarded the relaxation by softening the hold on Kyle's hair, though he didn't let it go completely. At the request, Jack arched an eyebrow as if not sure whether he would grant this or further prove his point by denying Kyle that which he asked for but in the end, the eyebrow lowered and Jack moved slowly to cover the other man's mouth with his own.
It was a reward for the compliance and also a desire to fulfill the request. The immortal's mouth moved with slow, deliberate thoroughness from one corner of Kyle's mouth to the other and only when he had covered every inch did Jack move to deepen the kiss.
At this point, his fingers uncurled, releasing Kyle's hair as Jack instead cupped the back of the younger man's head, holding him to his chest as he thrust his tongue deep within Kyle's mouth.
Claiming it for his own.
The slowness of the kiss was thrilling and frustrating for Kyle at the same time. He thought, very briefly, about trying to rush Jack and control the kiss himself, but the stern hand in his hair, although relaxed, was a reminder that he didn't have to do that. Jack would take care of him.
Instead, Kyle concentrated on trailing his hands down to Jack's chest from his shoulders, just resting there comfortably. He didn't have to worry about his balance either. Jack wouldn't drop him.
And if he did, well, Kyle wasn't particularly worried about how he'd get his revenge.
Jack's tongue was a welcome invader and Kyle accepted it enthusiastically, making encouraging noises and touching back with his own tongue.
Just say no to dropping the lawyer!
Kyle made some of the most delightful noises and Jack gave low growls of approval as he thrust his tongue suggestively deep within the warmth of the younger man's mouth.
Eventually, he broke away so that they could both get air and also because he was debating the wisdom of just laying Kyle out on the blanket and going ahead and taking him right here on the beach. Probably still a little cool for that and besides, they needed to make things right with Ianto, have him with them and all of them needed some time in the sanctuary of their bedroom.
"Come up to the house with me?" Jack rumbled in a low, throaty tone. It was a request and an expectation at the same time.
Kyle dragged cool dawn air into his lungs as Jack released his mouth, his chest heaving with the need to fill his lungs as well as the kind of pent up emotion that he only allowed himself to express comfortably in these situations.
He nodded his head, and raised himself up to hug Jack around the neck a last time.
"Missed you," he whispered, shaking a little and yes he could pretend it was because the morning air was cool by the sea and he had little enough body fat to keep him warm, but he didn't bother to.
He'd missed Jack. Had been scared for him, and lonely, and hurt about being excluded. And he was angry, and still a little scared, but mostly he was glad that Jack had come back to them.
Kyle wanted the other man to know all these things. He wasn't going to keep them secret any longer.
Curling his arms around Kyle, Jack returned the hug and rested his temple against the younger man's jaw.
"Even when I'm away," he whispered. "I will never forget about you."
It was a heady promise, given that they were from two different dimensions. It was a good bet that Kyle would go home and Jack would become little more than a distant dream in his memories but Jack was hoping his unique position as a 'fixed point in time' would at least give him this.
Stroking the large hands that Ianto loved so much across Kyle's -too thin!- back, Jack held him close for a couple beats of their hearts and then he turned to kiss Kyle's cheek.
"Come on," he urged.
He was guessing there was more to the shaking than the cold but it couldn't be doing Kyle any good. Jack wanted them all back in the safety of the beach house.
It might have been a false promise, but it was a nice one and Kyle wanted to believe it was true. So for the time being he acted as if it was. After all, if Jack cared enough to say it, even if it couldn't be achieved, that was all that really mattered wasn't it?
Kyle rested in that secure embrace for a few moments before reluctantly pulling away. The beach was not the best place for a reunion and they were still missing someone who deserved to be there, no matter how awkward Kyle was afraid it might be after the complete hash they had both made of everything in Jack's absence.
Scrambling unsteadily to his feet, Kyle brushed sand from his trousers and waited for Jack to get up too before walking back to the beach house.
Rating; PG-13 for swearing and sexual themes
Characters; Ianto Jones
king_coffee, Kyle Brooks justashow and Captain Jack Harkness handsomejackSummary; Jack gets home and helps smooth the tensions between Kyle and Ianto
Log;
There were times when facing down an army of undead vampire Nazis was easier than trying to maintain a relationship. Not that Jack was about to mention this thoughtout loud as he imagined that both Kyle and Ianto would take turns tying his dick in a knot.
Carefully picking his way up over the sand dune located in front of the house, Jack spied his Armani wearing quarry just over the edge, down where the soft sand leveled back out. At least Kyle had brought a blanket, probably to protect his slacks.
Sliding down the dune, Jack walked so that he came up in front of Kyle and stopped with a half smile.
"Hey, mind if I join you?"
He was prepared to be told to fuck off but was hoping otherwise.
Kyle had to think about it for a few minutes. On the one hand, knowing Jack was alive and close by and not a ghoulish vampire thing or half-crazed from torture could only be a comfort. On the other hand, part of him wanted to kill the immortal himself for putting them through this.
And that part was screaming for Kyle to shove Jack into the ocean.
Eventually he nodded and shifted to the side a little to make room. He could at least let Jack attempt...whatever it was he was attempting by searching Kyle out.
"Go ahead."
Not exactly a warm and fuzzy greeting but not a shove into the ocean either. Jack would take it.
Folding his coat around himself, Jack settled down on the bit of blanket Kyle had made available and got himself comfortable. Then, he looked out across the blue ocean and tried to put some sort of order to his thoughts.
"You're pretty upset with me, aren't you?" He asked softly.
Replying with What was your first clue would be childish. So Kyle didn't. He dug his fingers into the sand instead and probably ruined his perfectly buffed nails.
"It's a perfectly normal thing to be upset about," he said instead. Even if Ianto didn't agree, Kyle thought he should at least get to feel upset when people he loves go off to effectively commit suicide, granted in the name of heroic self-sacrifice.
"And you haven't given me a reason not to be."
Quiet for a few minutes, it was probably obvious that Jack was working some things out in his head as he went along. Perhaps, even more so than he ever had when he and Kyle talked in the past.
"I don't know that I'll be able to," Jack said eventually. "Because in the end, the decision is always going to be yours on whether what I say is a good enough reason to live through this."
Turning his head slightly, Jack had taken those minutes and carefully stripped away more of the masks that he wore without thought. Leaving exposed the vulnerability and also the aching loneliness he lived with. He did it, not for sympathy but to show Kyle that this idea, that Kyle, that Ianto, that Gwen could decide he was too much trouble and leave him at any point, was a fear that he lived with every waking moment of his life.
"But if you want to listen, I'll try?"
Kyle regarded him gravely for a few moments. Already it was hard to look at Jack and keep his smooth, unshakable expression. He'd perfected it for years in the courtroom, he'd displayed it for werewolves and fae, he'd tested it against his sister every time she mentioned his parents and it never failed him.
And yet, since he'd come to the City all Jack had been doing was stripping away Kyle's masks along with his own. Kyle didn't think it was fair.
"I'm already listening, aren't I?" he said with a sigh, shifting his gaze to the stars which were a much safer thing to look at.
"I'm not the one who needs to decide what he wants to live through, Jack."
Kyle's profile was beautiful, lit as it was and turned up towards the night sky and Jack smiled softly for a moment before turning to look back out over the ocean.
"Yes, you are." He reiterated. "I don't have a choice, well I suppose I have choices but none of them are ones I'd make as the man I am today but you do have a choice, because I know I'm not an easy man to live with."
As Ianto and Gwen could attest.
Taking a breath, Jack leaned back on his palms and looked up at the night sky, strange, alien and utterly fascinating to him.
"Do you know what it's like, to think in four dimensions, Kyle? To not only be aware of where you are, what is happening but also when in the process of time?"
It was a rhetorical question, letting Jack get started on a topic that seemed so very broad.
"The Doctor, though he looks human, is not. He's an alien, a Time Lord. He was born and raised a Time Lord, given the foundation of a being who is meant to live through multiple regenerations, up to and beyond a thousand years."
Pausing, Jack let a moment of envy wash over him and then quickly brushed it away.
"Even though, I was born in the 51st century, with all it's changes and all it's advances for the human race, I was born human. I was born to live maybe 100 years and spent much of my youth doing mydamnedest to shorten that number by a few decades. I was never raised to live beyond my own time, beyond my own people. I was never given the tools to cope with that possibility, it just didn't exist."
Sitting up, Jack grabbed up a bit of drift wood and began to work patterns into the sand.
"And I did things in my mortal life that to say I am not proud of is an understatement. I was the boogyman in the closet, the monster under the bed. I made arrogant decisions and craved indulgent acts, the likes of which Earth has no known law to punish."
A flash back to the man who had kidnapped Ianto and those memories, things he shied away from talking about with everyone, the Doctor knowing only because, the Doctor just knew things. Taking a deep breath, Jack stabbed the sand.
"I was good at it and I liked it. At that time, that man craved the power, washed himself in the cruelty that made him stronger. The darkness gives you a certain strength and it can be intoxicating. Can and was."
And why was he explaining this, admitting it to Kyle? Jack looked over at Kyle, his face pale in the light from the stars.
"You have to understand, Kyle. I live with that monster in my head and in my soul. He is me and sometimes I draw on that strength but most of the time I wrestle against that part of me and with the help of the Doctor, of Torchwood ... so far I am winning. But it's not death I fear anymore. It's losing the ability to keep myself in check."
He paused, there was more but he figured he better give a chance for Kyle to process it in bits, ask questions if he wished ... walk away, if he wanted.
Kyle listened, patiently, and said nothing while Jack unfolded his secrets. In some ways, it only confirmed the cold statement Ianto had made. He didn't know Jack, not really, and it sounded a little like Jack was saying that he never could know him. There was just too much distance, too many years, too many experiences that Kyle's mind couldn't absorb. He was barely touching the end of his twenties and Jack had seen centuries pass.
And yet he couldn't even reach as close as Ianto. So Kyle listened and nodded and thought with despair that this was maybe the conversational equivalent of coming home to find all of your possessions neatly packed away into suitcases at the top of the stairs.
Because Kyle recognized and witnessed every day the many ways in which he wasn't ever going to be enough to keep anyone. Warren's sanity required his pack and Adam more than it required Kyle. And it seemed that Jack's sanity required him to go off every so often and do daft and dangerous things in order to prove to himself that he wasn't a monster.
Because just Kyle saying so wouldn't be enough.
"The first time I saw Warren change, I ran away." Kyle confessed it softly, drawing his knees up to his chest and tucking his arms around them.
"I ran because just for a tiny moment I...I didn't see Warren anymore. It was just some savage beast and I knew it could kill me, knew I was less than nothing and I had to get away. So I left him there. After he'd been brave enough to risk himself by showing me his real self, I left him there and I didn't call for three days."
It had been the longest three days of Kyle's life.
"And when I saw him again, I still didn't know if I could handle what I knew about him. That the person I loved wasn't human, that he was going to outlive me by centuries, that suddenly there was this whole world I needed to be aware of and be careful in now, it seemed...so overwhelming. But I..."
Kyle's lips twisted and the stars seemed to blur above him. He ducked his head and was grateful that he'd let his hair grow longer these past few months. He could hide behind his bangs now.
"I got over it. I did. And now there's no way I could ever see Warren as a monster. And I'd never believe that he could hurt me. And I want to tell him that he's human, human, always human to me and it's still not enough."
Jack could say he was a monster inside all he wanted. Kyle was simply not going to believe it. But all of that didn't matter, because Kyle was never the one Jack wanted that kind of reassurance from.
He gave the other man an accusing, wet-lashed look.
"You didn't even give me the chance to ask you to stay."
Now it was Jack's turn to listen and he felt his chest tighten when he saw the evidence of moisture on Kyle's eyelashes. He wanted to reach out and wrap his arm around the younger man but wasn't sure it was the right thing to do at this moment. Still, he had to touch him and lifted a hand to lightly brush his fingertips against the side of Kyle's hair.
"Maybe because I'm afraid to say 'I can't' to you," he said. "That and well I have a bad habit of bolting off without warning. Gwen and Ianto would no doubt take your side in wanting to kick that nonsense out of my head."
Lowering his hand, Jack looked back out at the ocean.
"When Gray buried me, John later noted that I never struggled. I told him that I accepted my brother's hatred, his need to punish me as my penance for the wrong I did to him, in letting him go."
Taking a deep breath, Jack made himself look back to Kyle, look him straight in the face.
"I think the argument could be made that with all the death and suffering that is at my feet, I sometimes go overboard on the heroics in an attempt to make peace with the blood and tears on my hands. Sometimes, it's for the right reasons, like this past week but I've been thinking and I realize that I've also done some of this for the very wrong reasons and it makes sense that you'd have a hard time trusting my judgement."
Eyes still on Kyle's face, Jack let the younger man a little further in, past the smiles and shadows that normally lurked in his face.
"I truly am sorry for the time I let Cindy kill me. It was arrogant, prideful and worst of all horrifically thoughtless of me."
He paused, to let that sincere apology stand on it's own, then continued.
"There are times, like this past week, when the decision I make will hurt those I love but will be for the right reasons. But that was a time when I hurt you and Ianto for no good reason and I ... I don't ever know if I'll be able to express to you two enough, how much I regret it."
Kyle breathed quietly as he felt that touch on his hair, trying to push back the tears so very close to spilling over. He didn't cry. He never cried, and yes maybe once in a while his eyes watered a little but he could always control it.
He thought back to that day, to his timid question of whether it was worth it to keep on living. At the time, he thought that Jack answered that question, but as months went on, Kyle realized that maybe he hadn't. Or maybe he hadn't answered the way Kyle wanted him to.
Because Kyle also remembered the look in Jack's eyes on the day the City had turned him mortal and that naked longing in his expression, and he felt almost sick to his stomach with the knowledge that no matter how much he loved Jack, there was the strong possibility that Jack wanted to die more than he wanted to be with Kyle.
And the worst part was, he couldn't really blame Jack. It frustrated him beyond measure to discuss immortality with both of his lovers...hell, with all three of them, because he understood, really he did. But he couldn't change the way he felt about being left behind.
Jack relied on Torchwood and the Doctor to keep him human. Not Kyle. It was selfish and stupid to feel betrayed by that, but Kyle did.
"It's not about trust," Kyle said, gulping his breaths now. "I don't even know what it's about. I just...it's been such a horrible..."
Oh god, he was selfish and stupid. Every word just emphasized that. Kyle wished he could stop talking.
"You're always leaving where I can't follow. I don't care what the reasons are. It hurts."
This time, Jack couldn't help himself and he reached out to draw Kyle under his arm and against his body, ever protective even if this was something he couldn't necessarily protect Kyle from. Had Jack known the other man's thoughts, he'd have explained that in his eyes, Kyle was Warren's link to his humanity, Kyle was Warren's and would go back to Warren and when that time came, Jack wanted to know he'd kept Kyle safe for Warren, rather than breaking him utterly.
"I know," he said softly, pressing a kiss to the top of Kyle's head. He did know, also. Had felt that sense of hurt when the Doctor and Rose had taken off without him.
"It's hard, not to want to protect you that I guess I'm guilty of losing sight of the line between protecting and shutting out and I'm sorry about that, Kyle. It's not my intention, it's just there is so much out there and it's my job to protect you, Ianto, Gwen ..."
Sighing softly, Jack rested his cheek against Kyle's soft hair.
"I suppose I'm a little spoiled, because Gwen and Ianto kick me in the shins when I'm being too overprotective," sometimes it didn't do much good but it at least got Jack to think when they did it.
"I know I don't deserve you, any of you. I can't even promise that I wouldn't do the same thing again, if needed. Sometimes, Kyle ... sometimes I wish I could. Sometimes I have someone in my life and I want to just say 'screw the Universe, I'm taking this lifetime off'' but it doesn't work that way."
Jack's voice hitched a little, maybe Kyle wasn't allowing himself to cry but Jack could feel the warmth of salty tears on his cheek. He knew it was hard to live with him, to love him. He could remember every lover he'd lost or let walk away from him, because the lies, the secrets, the priorities had finally overcome the love and the lust. He didn't begrudge any of them, their choice, hell Jack wasn't sure he'd put up with himself if he was in their shoes.
But they always took a part of him with them.
Kyle hated losing control of his emotions. He hated feeling exposed and raw and he especially hated the way crying made his nose run so that he looked disgusting. If it were anyone but Jack, Kyle would have run away by now. People just weren't allowed to see a Brooks like this.
But it had been so long without Jack and Kyle hadn't slept and he'd fallen out with Ianto so many times simply because he felt so alone that he couldn't run. Not now.
The downside was, Jack's coat was probably getting wet, and some part of Kyle felt absolutely humiliated while the rest of him didn't care.
"Why do you always wait until after you do something stupid to talk to me?" Kyle sniffled into a great coat lapel with a little grumble.
Tightening his arm around Kyle, Jack pulled him closer inching him towards his lap.
"Because I'm usually too busy doing something stupid?" He offered lamely.
Unfortunately it was also true. Jack was used to being the Captain and even the Doctor occasionally had to thump him on the head to remind him to 'listen' every so often.
Kyle couldn't help the snort of laughter, even as more tears ran down his cheeks.
"Idiot," he said, not without a certain fondness. It was probably easy for the Captain to shift him. Kyle had been pulling double, sometimes triple laps along his favorite running paths the past week, trying to flee his fears.
Add to that some sparse food intake and you had a slightly underweight lawyer.
"You know there's a chance that if you talk to me before hand, I might not worry so goddamn much when you do these things."
Given some of the names occasionally flung at his head, Jack would take an idiot as a Godsend.
Tugging the underweight -hmmm- lawyer up onto his lap, Jack employed the lethal coat snuggle action and wrapped both arms around him.
"That, I can try to be better about," he admitted. He'd called Gwen and Ianto because they were his team and it was automatic for him to do that but he could try harder next time to make sure he contacted Kyle as well.
Sighing softly, Jack kissed Kyle's temple and then leaned his forehead against the other man's.
"I know that this isn't easy, Kyle." He said softly. "And it's a lot to ask of you, to stay with us but we do love you and bring so much to our lives, I can't give you many brilliant reasons to stay but ... please?"
"Idiot," Kyle pronounced again, swallowing a sob. "I was an absolute wreck while you were gone and you think you need to ask me to stay? Where the hell else am I going to go? You made me need you, so deal with the consequences."
No, he couldn't imagine leaving. He could imagine his heart breaking in a thousand different ways, but he could never imagine leaving.
Granted, that was if Ianto still wanted him to stay.
"Things fell apart," Kyle whispered, a little guiltily. "I couldn't put them back together. I didn't know how, and you weren't there."
Jack winced as he listened to Kyle. He honestly hadn't realized how deeply important he was to the younger man. Had thought that so long as Ianto and Kyle had each other to lean on, they would both be okay.
Well, he'd hoped that at least.
"I'm sorry, Kyle." He whispered, hugging the other man close. "I keep forgetting that Ianto can anchor himself in his Captain's orders, in his Captain's leadership but that you don't have that same touchstone to fall back on."
It would be all right, Jack would make it all right. He owed both of the men in his life nothing less.
"I couldn't make him understand," Kyle said, shaking his head. "And he couldn't make me understand. And we just kept fighting and fighting."
Warren had always been able to sniff out the real issues underlying Kyle's sometimes snappish ways and twisting double talk. He knew when the younger man was afraid and not really angry, and when to push like an alpha. Kyle had been waiting desperately for Ianto to stop him, to figure out what was going on beneath without the humiliation of Kyle having to say it and possibly be rejected.
It didn't work out very well. Kyle knew it was as much his fault, but he didn't know how to fix it or even if it could be fixed.
Usually Kyle and Ianto had the common chew toy of Jack to run interference. Without him there, Jack could see how these two stubborn young men might end up in a squabble of misunderstandings.
"Let's go back up to the house, sit down and talk, hmmm?"
Kyle thought part of it was probably the insane amount of stress both he and Ianto were under with Jack gone, as well as the missed sleep making them snappish and quick to take offense as much as anything.
"Wait," he said, shifting in Jack's lap so he could face the other man.
Because he hadn't had the time before, and his immediate need to make sure that yes, Jack was actually here and yes, he was still alive and still Jack hadn't been completely fulfilled yet.
Kyle's hand crept to the opening in the great coat and slipped inside to press against the Captain's chest, feel the steady heartbeat. Kyle studied the face above him, the lines and curves that made up the strong jaw, the handsome cheek bones. He pressed his nose to Jack's neck and breathed in the familiar, pleasing scent of 51rst Century pheramones.
"You're okay, right?" Kyle questioned, a fretful tone to his voice as he wandered with his hands, searching for evidence that said otherwise.
Not sure, at first, what Kyle was up to when Jack figured it out, he smiled softly and relaxed his hold so that the younger man could shift around and check for himself.
"Fit as a fiddle," he promised, though he made no move to keep Kyle from verifying his claim.
It was one nice thing about a full fledged death, usually he came back completely 'reset' but he didn't think that Kyle wanted to hear that right now and besides, the other man's hands felt very good. A definite contrast to the tender ministrations of the Major's people.
While Kyle investigated, Jack lifted a hand and brushed his fingers gently through the lawyer's blond hair. It really was getting a bit long there, wasn't it?
Well, Kyle had other things to think about recently besides fashionable haircuts, hadn't he. Still it didn't look bad on him, just a little more casual than most people would see him.
Kyle's fingers measured the broadness of Jack's shoulders, swept down to his rib cage and then always coming back to the heart where he could feel it thump. He pressed his ear to it and smiled at the rhythm he'd been missing against his cheek at night, the comforting presence who could chase the nightmares away.
Kyle took a deep breath, then another, trying to fill his lungs with Jack. He hadn't forgotten, of course. It hadn't been nearly long enough to forget, but it still felt like regaining a piece of himself that had been missing.
"You'll stay for a while now, won't you?" Because Kyle, having never been "in" on the plan, so to speak, didn't know if this was the end of the whole mess or just a mild reprieve.
The breaths were both comforting and tickled a little making Jack smile as he lightly ran his hands over Kyle's shoulders.
"I promise," he said and pulled Kyle to him for a warm hug. "Don't feel like going through anything like that any time soon."
The last words were truthfully spoken. Having gone up on the Major's ship, fought his way through the horrors that lay up there and getting the prisoners back home, Jack was ready to return to the fairly relaxed investigative work Torchwood was doing down in the sewers.
The sun was starting to warm the beach and soon there would be time for swimming in the ocean, lazing around on the sand and possibly seeing if he could talk Ianto and Kyle into sex on the beach.
What? He was a guy, yes he did think about sex every 3 minutes, especially with Kyle perched so nicely on his lap.
"Good," Kyle said, hugging back with a smile. The smile was still on his face when he pulled back a little, but it was the dangerous smile of a courtroom shark going in for the kill.
"I'm still mad at you," he warned Jack, still smiling, before he leaned forward to give a brutal, fast kiss to his lips.
"Furious, in fact." Another kiss. "And you're in such big trouble. Because you, Jack Harkness, are awful hard work."
And he bit too.
Was he in trouble? He thought he might be hearing something to that effect but there was kissing going on and Jack had been known to come back from the dead asking if he was getting a kiss!
Returning them, he couldn't help smiling and even laughing a little as he pursed his lips to return the kisses.
"Oi!" He yelped at the bite but then pulled Kyle up hard against his chest and kissed him deeply, leaning him backwards a little bit.
"But," kiss! "I'm such fun to play with at the end of the day."
"You should have all your toys taken away," Kyle muttered, between kisses. His fingernails dug into Jack's shoulders, bunching up the fabric of the great coat as he tried to keep his balance with Jack leaning him back like that.
"And be grounded. For decades. And no dessert."
Jack grinned, well it was half grin and half leer his eyebrow arching suggestively.
"No dessert at all?"
Leaning down, he snuck in a quick nibble of Kyle's exposed throat.
All of Jack's grins seemed to be half leers.
Kyle made a sound half-way between a growl and a whimper and struggled to get his upper hand back. It was more difficult with Jack leaning over him this way. The best Kyle could do was move his hips in deliberate circles and keep holding on for balance.
"You don't deserve any," Kyle said, which wasn't exactly an answer to the question. If it actually was a question.
"Not even a little nibble?" He wheedled, following the words up with action as he tracked very delicate mouse bites up along Kyle's throat to his jaw.
"No, you don't deserve the smallest scrap," Kyle replied, letting his head fall back further. He couldn't help the instinctive response.
His fingers tightened their grip.
"But that doesn't mean I can't have some. In fact, I'll have your share."
Playfully, Jack walked his fingers up along the -too thin- column of Kyle's spine till he could thrust them through blond hair, fisting it with gentle firmness. An alpha, taking the scruff of one of his wolves for submission.
He didn't say anything, just held Kyle like that, because sometimes words became burdensome and actions spoke louder. The message was hopefully clear that while they were here in the City, without Warren or even Adam here to do the job, it was Jack's job to be Kyle's alpha. To protect, love and every so often, bully him to make sure he was properly taken care of.
Kyle gasped and tested his boundaries by wriggling, not in earnest of escaping, but just to see if Jack would remain firm.
He'd needed this, all through the stress of the past week, pushing himself with the running in a way that he knew was unhealthy but had no impulse to stop, and Ianto had tried but was still hesitant to be what Kyle needed for fear that he was forcing him.
Kyle watched Jack, arched his spine and squirmed just enough to pull the long strands a bit.
Jack had no doubt that Ianto had tried his best for Kyle and if there had been hesitancy it spoke of something Jack needed to help teach the young Welshman in amongst their games. It wasn't often that he played at this sort of level, the Captain often being enough but this went back to the fact that Kyle didn't have that sort of relationship with Jack.
Tightening his hold, Jack growled softly. He had enough tension that he knew he was giving Kyle a delicate hurt in his scalp and the growl reached up into blue eyes, giving them an almost preternatural fire that came simply from Jack's human will, rather than any sort of true, supernatural element.
Gone was the earlier vulnerability, the uncertainty. At least they were back in the shadows, ever present but back under control as Jack's more aggressive personality came to the fore.
Kyle made a noise in his throat at the slight pain, his lips curving slightly in satisfaction and...yes, relief. Here he didn't have to think or worry. Ianto was wrong when he said that Kyle didn't trust Jack. When Jack was with him like this, Kyle had absolute trust. Nothing was going to hurt him, because Jack said so. Kyle was not going to hurt himself, because Jack wasn't going to let him. Here was real safety.
So Kyle gave up the tug-of-war struggle for dominance and relaxed for the first time in at least a week, perhaps more.
He stilled in Jack's hold and his body posture becoming one of willing compliance instead of challenge or struggle as he looked up at the other man.
"Kiss me?" And he was asking this time, not demanding.
Jack saw the moment of Kyle's compliance a half second before the man's body actually relaxed in his arms. He rewarded the relaxation by softening the hold on Kyle's hair, though he didn't let it go completely. At the request, Jack arched an eyebrow as if not sure whether he would grant this or further prove his point by denying Kyle that which he asked for but in the end, the eyebrow lowered and Jack moved slowly to cover the other man's mouth with his own.
It was a reward for the compliance and also a desire to fulfill the request. The immortal's mouth moved with slow, deliberate thoroughness from one corner of Kyle's mouth to the other and only when he had covered every inch did Jack move to deepen the kiss.
At this point, his fingers uncurled, releasing Kyle's hair as Jack instead cupped the back of the younger man's head, holding him to his chest as he thrust his tongue deep within Kyle's mouth.
Claiming it for his own.
The slowness of the kiss was thrilling and frustrating for Kyle at the same time. He thought, very briefly, about trying to rush Jack and control the kiss himself, but the stern hand in his hair, although relaxed, was a reminder that he didn't have to do that. Jack would take care of him.
Instead, Kyle concentrated on trailing his hands down to Jack's chest from his shoulders, just resting there comfortably. He didn't have to worry about his balance either. Jack wouldn't drop him.
And if he did, well, Kyle wasn't particularly worried about how he'd get his revenge.
Jack's tongue was a welcome invader and Kyle accepted it enthusiastically, making encouraging noises and touching back with his own tongue.
Just say no to dropping the lawyer!
Kyle made some of the most delightful noises and Jack gave low growls of approval as he thrust his tongue suggestively deep within the warmth of the younger man's mouth.
Eventually, he broke away so that they could both get air and also because he was debating the wisdom of just laying Kyle out on the blanket and going ahead and taking him right here on the beach. Probably still a little cool for that and besides, they needed to make things right with Ianto, have him with them and all of them needed some time in the sanctuary of their bedroom.
"Come up to the house with me?" Jack rumbled in a low, throaty tone. It was a request and an expectation at the same time.
Kyle dragged cool dawn air into his lungs as Jack released his mouth, his chest heaving with the need to fill his lungs as well as the kind of pent up emotion that he only allowed himself to express comfortably in these situations.
He nodded his head, and raised himself up to hug Jack around the neck a last time.
"Missed you," he whispered, shaking a little and yes he could pretend it was because the morning air was cool by the sea and he had little enough body fat to keep him warm, but he didn't bother to.
He'd missed Jack. Had been scared for him, and lonely, and hurt about being excluded. And he was angry, and still a little scared, but mostly he was glad that Jack had come back to them.
Kyle wanted the other man to know all these things. He wasn't going to keep them secret any longer.
Curling his arms around Kyle, Jack returned the hug and rested his temple against the younger man's jaw.
"Even when I'm away," he whispered. "I will never forget about you."
It was a heady promise, given that they were from two different dimensions. It was a good bet that Kyle would go home and Jack would become little more than a distant dream in his memories but Jack was hoping his unique position as a 'fixed point in time' would at least give him this.
Stroking the large hands that Ianto loved so much across Kyle's -too thin!- back, Jack held him close for a couple beats of their hearts and then he turned to kiss Kyle's cheek.
"Come on," he urged.
He was guessing there was more to the shaking than the cold but it couldn't be doing Kyle any good. Jack wanted them all back in the safety of the beach house.
It might have been a false promise, but it was a nice one and Kyle wanted to believe it was true. So for the time being he acted as if it was. After all, if Jack cared enough to say it, even if it couldn't be achieved, that was all that really mattered wasn't it?
Kyle rested in that secure embrace for a few moments before reluctantly pulling away. The beach was not the best place for a reunion and they were still missing someone who deserved to be there, no matter how awkward Kyle was afraid it might be after the complete hash they had both made of everything in Jack's absence.
Scrambling unsteadily to his feet, Kyle brushed sand from his trousers and waited for Jack to get up too before walking back to the beach house.
Part 2
He had a lot to do as well, having been a bit too distracted in the past week to be any use with his work at all, and he hated to leave things unfinished. He was going to have it done that evening if possible, leaving the next day free.
Hopefully Ianto had been working double time, because he was going to soon be kidnapped for the evening and it wasn't likely that Jack was going to let either man out of his sight the next day.
To his credit, Jack tried to get sand off his boots, eventually giving up and with a quick word to Kyle had paused to take the boots off. See, he was trying to be good! Of course, the sand all over is coat was another matter.
Anyway, waiting till he could take Kyle's hand -no escaping lawyers!- Jack headed up through the house.
"Be 'wery wery quiet' we're stalking Iantos," he said.
He had a good idea where the young Welshman was, this was an attempt to get a smile on Kyle's face as they came up to the living room.
Kyle rolled his eyes at Jack's less-than-steller Elmer Fudd impression but didn't attempt to squirm out of the hold on his hand.
Except to try and brush sand from his hair, where Jack had dipped him a bit too low onto the beach. At least the blanket had kept his pants clean, which was more than he could say for Jack's coat.
Following behind Jack, Kyle hoped that they could get through this first hurdle without any more misunderstandings. Or at least without any more arguing.
And he hoped that Ianto wasn't planning on working for the next few days, for god's sake.
He frowned a little when he saw the stacks of paperwork Ianto had built around himself like a little fortress.
Engrossed in his work, the usually observant Ianto didn't hear the approach of either man and their criminally sandy ways.
Reaching across the table, he picked up several sheets of paper and cross referenced the information with what was on the screen of his laptop.
Standing there for a moment, Jack arched an eyebrow at the picture Ianto made with his little 'work' fortress and then he leaned over to kiss Kyle's jaw.
Holding up a finger in the universal 'stay put' gesture, Jack put his hands in the pockets of his slacks and strolled casually over to where Ianto was working. Stopping just in front of him, he gave the younger man the warning of his shadow falling across that work, a couple of beats and then he very deliberately shook his hands out of his pockets and leaned forward.
With one large hand, he pushed the laptop closed and then rested on his knuckles at eye level to Ianto.
Jack didn't say anything, he simply arched an eyebrow. It was a hint of a scolding, an unspoken directive that he wasn't going to tolerate Ianto trying to hide from things behind work and that he wasn't likely to take kindly to the younger man attempting to dodge around him and hide behind that wall of 'efficiency'.
Straightening, he held his hand out towards Ianto. The three of them were going to go to their room and talk in the comfortable sanctuary of that space, not out here where Ianto could try to duck behind work and Kyle could try to duck out and run.
Kyle stayed put, though it wasn't without the desperate desire to fidget. He made do with straightening the files near-bye into neat piles so Ianto wouldn't have an excuse to delay coming with them.
He did, however, show a hint of a smile when Jack loomed over Ianto in disapproval of the work wall. He was playing alpha for both of them, at the moment, and Kyle knew Ianto would recognize the effect.
Ianto almost jumped when Jack loomed into view, but he managed to keep it under control and remain outwardly unaffected. So it seemed anyway, and he looked up at Jack when the man closed the laptop, seeing Kyle standing behind him, straightening those files.
Part 3
Bastard knew how much Ianto loved his hands, and reaching out, Ianto took Jack's hand and stood up. But he had to make some kind of protest.
"You're both getting sand everywhere."
Aware of what Kyle was doing, Jack smiled inwardly at the assistance and then pulled Ianto up to his feet. Once he had Ianto in hand, he reached out to catch Kyle's -too thin!- wrist and began to draw them both along to the hallway that lead to the bedroom.
"Then a little bit more won't matter," he said smoothly.
Herding both men into the bedroom, Jack deliberately closed the door and then paused to give himself a moment to take it in. He was home back from thestench ridden darkness of the Major's ship, the wash of a sea breeze through the open balcony doors was delicious and Jack took a deep breath of the clean air.
Then he looked at Kyle and then at Ianto, before pushing away from the door and shrugging out of his coat. Mulling a good conversational gambit over in his head, he decided to dive straight into the center and work his way out.
"I was talking to Kyle," he began, hanging the coat up in the closet. "To promise about contacting him in the future. Like I've tried to be better with you and Gwen, Ianto."
Walking sort of to the center of the room, Jack crossed his arms and pursed his lips thoughtfully before he continued.
"I also, apologized for the idiocy of what I did with Cindy a few months back. Times like this past week, some things are unavoidable but that was and it was very, very wrong of me to have done it and again I apologize. I'm sorry, to both of you."
Kyle felt a little guilty about the sand, but not guilty enough to regret the situation that lead to him getting the gritty stuff in his hair or all over Jack's coat. He promised he'd vacuum it up later, and by the looks of Jack's purposeful strides towards the bedroom "later" would be quite a while coming.
There were more important things to worry about than sand. Kyle looked awkwardly at Ianto, and then at the floor as they were effectively closed into the bedroom. Then he turned his eyes to Jack, which seemed to be the safest thing to focus on as Kyle couldn't really bring himself to fret when he remembered Jack's confidence in them to make things better.
That and the man was taking off clothing and it had been a long time since Kyle saw that familiar action. He smiled.
"I'm sorry too," Kyle said, flitting his gaze from Jack to Ianto. "That I couldn't trust you more. Ianto always did."
Part 4
But Jack moved away to the middle of the room, and Ianto would have felt like a fool to follow him there, even as Jack took his own coat off and hung it up, rather than having Ianto help him. It left Ianto feeling twitchy and a little useless, standing there as he didn't know what to do with his hands.
He looked up when Jack spoke, though. "This is different to the Cindy thing, though. This actually had purpose to it." He'd absolutely hated it then, but when Jack had doggedly stayed alive for Kyle after bring poisoned, Ianto thought things may have changed. But he still thought of this mission as being in a different category.
At Kyle's words, though, he shook his head. "I trusted him as my Captain, and not Jack, which made me be far too harsh. I'm sorry for that."
Jack listened to what both men were saying and when Ianto said how this had had a purpose, Jack couldn't help looking at the man with the warmth and pride he often felt for him not just as Jack but also as his Captain. Ianto was older than his years and often saw things on a level that was hard for mankind.
Kyle was also smiled softly at for his apology and Jack gave them both a half smile.
"That is part of why I am apologizing for the Cindy incident, because I guess in some ways I haven't given you a lot to trust me about on this subject, Kyle."
Taking his share of responsibility for the stresses and unease that had cropped up between Ianto and Kyle over this subject.
As Ianto's apology seemed to be directed towards Kyle, Jack didn't speak to it, letting it stand between the two younger men instead, hoping to see the fences mend between them. He ... well, to be honest, he wanted them both. Had kept himself sane up there with the thought of who he had to come home to and there was a big comfortable bed, begging for a tangled knot of warm, naked, masculine limbs.
Kyle shook his head and shrunk back a bit, towards the door. It was an instinctive movement, but he didn't plan on running this time. Instead he spoke to both men.
"No, Ianto was right about this being different. And you gave me a reason to trust you when you stayed alive for me during that whole snake-bite fiasco..." Kyle still felt a twinge of shame over that. He'd put Jack through agonizing pain just because he couldn't bear to see the man die and he'd always feel guilty for that.
"I'm selfish," he admitted. "I can't seem to stop being that way. But I shouldn't have expected you to share my shortcomings."
He gestured towards Ianto and then clasped his hands to keep from fidgeting.
Problem was, Ianto did think of himself as selfish, even if he didn't show it. He'd wanted to march on into the fray and drag Jack back, just like he'd wanted to ask Jack to stay when he went off to help the Doctor fight the Daleks, and just like all the other times Jack had gone off and had to leave Ianto behind. But Ianto knew it wasn't something Jack was doing by choice, and he couldn't bring himself to put his own need before that of many.
"I hate it when you die, I do," he said to Jack, hands jammed deep in his pockets, before turning to Kyle, "and it's not wrong for you to hate it too. But because of Torchwood, I've learned how to deal with it, and you haven't had that same experience. So it is going to be more difficult for you when Jack does die."
He turned back to the older man, then. "As long as you don't die frivolously, I can cope."
Part 5
"Kyle," he began softly. "Both Ianto and I would give anything to protect you from some of the things that we've seen, done and experienced as Torchwood. This isn't meant to exclude you, though I fear it may feel that way some times."
He was reaching for hands here folks and trying to draw them both in closer to himself, wanting to wrap them near them, wanting to protect and shelter them both from what was out there.
"I just want to be considered," Kyle whispered, hating how pathetic it sounded. Yes, he knew he wasn't trained to hunt down aliens, to watch the backs of histeammates , to fight or shoot his way in or out of a bad situation. He didn't have the skills or resources to be of much use in those situations.
But he still wanted to be included in plans, in providing support, maybe even just in expressing sympathy. Ianto had been so calm throughout the entire week. He didn't show any rage or fear and Kyle had been so prepared to sympathize that he'd been at a loss to discover that Ianto didn't need him to. And then he'd just felt silly and selfish for his own displays of emotion which lead to him lashing out. It was a bad cycle.
He saw Jack reaching out and reached back, entwining fingers. It had been such a horrible week. Perhaps they could just drown in touch and sensation and the here and now, and forget the whole thing ever happened?
Kyle wouldn't mind that.
Ianto's calmness was simply how he coped, and it had been that way ever since Canary Wharf. He'd internalized it all until he presented the world with a cool polished exterior for the world to see, and eventually it wasn't even a facade any more, it it was genuinely part of his personality.
Usually it served him very well, but as shown, let to confusion and upset for others sometimes.
"We'll consider you," he promised, taking Jack's hand and letting himself be drawn in, "but when we say you have to stay, it's not because we want to leave you out, it's because we want you to be safe."
Tug, tug he pulled them both close and curled his arms around them, not unlike how he had hugged Ianto and Gwen when he'd gotten back from the whole buried thing. The physical contact felt amazing and it was likely that both Ianto and Kyle felt the shudder that ran through Jack.
"We will definitely do better at making sure you are in the loop," he agreed and probably in a few days Jack would have started to plot out ways in which to incorporate Kyle's talents as a lawyer and that quick mind in to some of the work they did.
For now, he was kissing both of them on the forehead.
"I had you both in my thoughts, all the time I was up there, just thinking of coming home."
Kyle moved in close as well, a hand going again to press against Jack's chest, over his heart. He reached out for Ianto too, having gained enough confidence by now to know that Ianto wouldn't be rejecting him just because they had some communication problems.
"You're home now," he murmured to Jack, "and we're both here."
He tucked a hand around Ianto's wrist and brought it up to his mouth to kiss, before rising up on tip-toe to press the same, featherlight brush of lips to Jack's lips.
"Missed you."
He couldn't seem to say it enough.
This was the point where Ianto usually let go, when he had something real and tangible to hold onto. Only once it was all over. After Jack kissed his forehead, Ianto pressed his face against Jack's shoulder and left it there, much like when he'd come back after being buried. His arm was tight about the older man's waist, and he used the other arm to draw Kyle in close after the man kissed his wrist.
"We both missed you," he said, voice muffled by a shoulder.
Part 6
"I'm lucky," he whispered. He did know how lucky he was that they were both there, that they hadn't just given up on him being too much trouble, being too hard to live with and love.
Letting a comfortable quiet, save for the deep bass thump of the ocean outside, settle around them for a little bit Jack eventually began to tug the other two towards the bed.
Even if one or all of them were too tired for certain pleasurable activities, he wanted to curl up with them both and let the serenity of their room and the peacefulness of having them both with him wash away the stress and tension of the past week.
Kyle eyed the bed a little warily. The last curse had literally been a nightmare and the bed had not been his friend for a long time.
Still, he let Jack tug him towards it willingly. Even if he couldn't sleep, at least he would be with both of them, making sure they didn't go anywhere. They needed a bit less clothing though.
Kyle slanted a look towards Ianto and lightly brushed against the sleeve of Jack's shirt in a silent question. Should they take the opportunity to make their wayward lover more comfortable for bed?
Ianto knew in a sense, that Jack was lucky and that there were a lot of people who hadn't waited, but for Ianto and seemingly Kyle, it had only been the natural thing to do. And well, Jack was certainly worth waiting for, Ianto for one would tell anyone. He'd never met anyone like Jack before, and he knows he never will, either.
Ianto followed too, still dressed and wearing Jack's Vortex Manipulator under his sleeve, and after a week and a bit he was so used to wearing it that he'd forgotten it was even there.
Catching Kyle's look though, he nodded and lifted both his hands to flick open the top - well, third from top as Jack always kept the top two open - button on Jack's shirt.
Jack made no move to stop the other two men from disrobing him. After all, he'd take just about any excuse to be naked and especially at this moment.
Smiling, the older man ran his hands lightly over Kyle and Ianto's sides as they worked, there might even have been a cheeky little bum pinch here or there. It was going to surprise Jack when he saw what Ianto was wearing, though it made sense, as the coat had gone with Jack up the Deus ex Machina.
Kyle took the liberty of untucking Jack's shirt from his pants, gently skimming the skin over the waistband with a thumb afterwards. He hooked his fingers under the braces and pulled them down with a great deal of focus.
That is, if he didn't have to swat away a bum pinch. He gave Jack a stern look.
"I thought I said no dessert for you."
Pleased that Kyle was working on untucking shirts and removing braces, Ianto pushed the shirt off Jack's shoulders once he had it open, having every intention of staying completely dressed while Jack was undressed. He wasn't sure why he wanted to do it, he just did.
He didn't speak when Jack pinched his bum, but he gave Jack a raised eyebrow. He didn't really want to tell the older man off for such an action, especially as he'd missed it very much while the older man was gone.
Curling his fingers beneath the hem of Jack's undershirt, he gave him a warning look though. "We're only going to bed to rest and sleep." That went doubly for Kyle.
"You can't blame me for trying to sneak a cookie," Jack said with a playful leer.
He was helpful throughout the undressing procedures, ducking his head here and shrugging there to get out of his clothes. Despite what he'd been through on the ship, his body had healed to it's normal, fit self so at least there were no new scars to worry the boys.
Rest and sleep? Jack gave a mock pout but leaned over to sneak kisses from both Ianto and Kyle.
"Rest and sleep, yes sir!"
Part 7
"I never said that I couldn't have dessert," he whined playfully.
Besides which, Kyle still wasn't sure about falling asleep now, even with both his men in the bed. The bed had not been a very restful place for a long time now.
It was a nice contrast, Kyle thought, seeing Jack undressed and Ianto still fully clothed. He'd have to remember that for later.
"Now Kyle, we have to share. If one doesn't get something, then nobody gets it," Ianto said in a fake reprimand, but it was probably shown up by his grin. He crouched down and tugged at first one of Jack's calves, and then the other to remove his boots and socks, deciding to give the pinky toe on each foot a little tickle before standing up again.
Then, once Jack was unclothed enough for bed, Ianto gave him a shove in the middle of his chest, hard enough to topple him onto the bed.
"Is this like bringing enough gum for the whole eek!" Jack had begun to tease but then jumped as if a mouse had snuck across his foot when Ianto tickled his toes.
There was a fierce, mock glare heading in the Welshman's direction as he exposed the dreaded toe weakness. Then Jack was being tumbled back onto his bed and oooohhh but did that feel delightful. Jack was unable to smoother the deep groan of satisfaction that came from his mouth as his back and shoulders were supported by the firm, yet giving mattress, the scent of washed cotton filling his nostrils.
"Oh now this is nice," he moaned.
They weren't going to make him move were they???
Well yes, they were. Because he was taking up the whole bed.
But first, Kyle was going to have himself a laughing fit about that squeak Jack had let out when Ianto tickled his toe.
"I didn't know you made that sound," he teased, grinning at Ianto to congratulate him on catching an unprepared Captain Harkness.
"Maybe we should try for it again?"
They were freshly washed sheets too. Kyle had watched them go around in the dryer just this morning before helping put them back on.
The pillow cases, however, had yet to go through the spin cycle, so they should still smell like Kyle and Ianto.
"Oh, he always makes that noise when you tickle him," Ianto said smugly, with the air of knowledge that he knew about every single one of Jack's ticklish spots. "But that's not as funny as the time he jumped on a chair like a housewife when the hub was infested by these little alien things. He stayed there until I got rid of them with a fire extinguisher."
"And yes Jack," he said, sitting on the bed by the man's hip, pushing him to the middle of the bed so he and Kyle could lie either side of him, "it's exactly the same as bringing chewing gum for the whole class."
Now time to get Kyle undressed.
Groaning as his dignity began to take a battering, Jack wriggled himself up to the center of the bed and got under the covers. Mmmm, nicely scented Kyle and Ianto pillows, the immortal was helping himself to a few of those, thank you!
"I told you, Ianto. They make this high pitched noise that you, Gwen and the other's couldn't hear but I could and it was like nails on a chalk board!"
As he explained this, Jack eyed Kyle. Just making sure that the young lawyer wasn't going to get any ideas about testing out his toes for 'squeak' factor.
Part 8
"Did he scream and try to whack them with a broom?" The idea of Jack being startled by alien mice was enough of a picture to make Kyle grin.
His fingers worked at the knot in Ianto's tie.
But Ianto could undress Kyle at the same time as being undressed - multitasking! - and reached to unbutton the smaller man's shirt, starting from the top as he always did. He wanted everyone on equal footing, plain and simple.
"I still don't understand how jumping on a chair would get rid of the noise from your ears. The girls were just as bad too, running up onto the gantry." He grinned at Kyle. "Nope, he just stayed there until Someone Else sorted them out. And of course, that someone was me." Considering everyone else had basically run away.
"It was a reflex," Jack tried to defend himself, though really there was no hope, was there?
Especially when he gave another little squeak, while yanking his foot away from that impish tickle that Kyle tried to deliver. Tricksy lawyer!
Now he could have joined in the undressing, true but the truth was he had a beautiful front row seat and the boys were doing a lovely job of disrobing each other. Just ignore his 'cat got the canary' purr happening here on the bed.
Kyle shied away from having his shirt taken off. While all the running had been great from his ass and his legs, he knew it hadn't done very much for his definition in the chest area and was trying to avoid having too many people notice.
He was happy to reveal Ianto's chest though, which was looking as delectable as ever. And just to prove that, he bent over Jack to press a little kiss to hollow of Ianto's throat.
Then he looked at Jack.
"Play with him a while, would you? I'm going to go get my night shirt."
The pull away, however, had Ianto suspicious, and he was going to do a little investigating when Kyle came back. Hopefully with Jack's help, too. He watched Kyle leave with a raised eyebrow, and them divested himself of the rest of his clothes, revealing his left arm beneath and unwittingly Jack's Vortex Manipulator which rested under his watch.
"He's been running far too much," he murmured to Jack, too low for Kyle to hear, but loud enough for Jack's sensitive ears.
But Jack was here, and so was Kyle and so for a moment, Ianto took the opportunity to collapse next to Jack and press close to him.
A little surprised when Kyle withdrew, Jack looked over as Ianto got out of the rest of his clothes and stretched out beside him. Curling his arm around the younger man he drew Ianto in a little closer and then chuckled at the position of the Vortex Manipulator.
"Hmmm, you trying out the size of my wrist strap?" Jack asked teasingly.
He would definitely be willing to help Ianto with the check up on Kyle, it would be hard for the lawyer to hide too much when they were all cuddled together after all.
Frowning a little at the news about Kyle's running, Jack nodded with a certain understanding and gave Ianto a hug.
"We'll help him," he whispered. "Together."
Kyle ducked half into the closet to change, shucking his shirt and slacks and pulling on his bulkiest flannel pajamas. They weren't fashionable and didn't feel half as nice as silk (or bare skin) but they disguised an awful lot of thinness.
Reappearing at the bedside, Kyle smiled with approval at Ianto's current state of undress and the way his lovers were cuddled up together.
"He hasn't taken it off since," Kyle said softly, gesturing at the wrist strap.
He knew it had been a comfort to Ianto to have it.
Part 9
Then Kyle came back in, and Ianto grinned, although it seemed that he wasn't at all inclined to move from where he was tightly curled against Jack's side. He fake scowled at Kyle's comment though, he was going to explain it away with the keeping it safe idea himself.
Flannel pajamas??
Kyle was coming to bed in flannel pajamas?? Jack did a double take at the sight and he frowned but held his tongue for the time being. Something was definitely up for at the moment, he was in a warm, comfortable bed with two men that he loved and Jack figured they could all use some relaxation.
There would be time to question Kyle about the pajamas later. For now, Jack simply held out his other arm, inviting the lawyer into the bed with them and to snuggle in close.
Turning his head towards Ianto, Jack gave an impish little grin and kissed the top of the Welshman's head.
"As I said, mine's definitely bigger."
Couldn't let that pass without comment!
"Like your mouth?" Kyle teased as he got back into the bed with the other two.
He curled in on the other side of Jack and arranged himself as comfortably as possible without letting the night shirt ride up. And he really couldn't resist tangling his legs with Jack and using his own toes to stroke up the arch of Jack's foot, hoping for another squeaky reaction.
Hey, he was taught to take advantage of weaknesses, right?
With a roll of his eyes, Ianto smacked Jack in the shoulder for that comment, and them made to sit up so he could remove the wrist strap and hand it back over to it's proper owner, his promise to keep it safe complete. The well-worn leather had felt nice against his skin, and now his arm felt rather bare.
Ianto raised an eyebrow himself at Kyle's choice of bed wear, but he registered Jack's surprise too, and figured the older man would mention it later, so Ianto decided to leave it to him. But he didn't want to let go of Jack for too long, so as soon as he'd taken the band off, he lay back down and curled against Jack's side.
And sniffed his neck.
"Haven't heard you two complaining about that," Jack leered back.
He let Kyle get settled without comment about the flannel or the thinness he could feel beneath it. Instead, he simply snugged his arm around the other man and pulled him close.
Frowning a little when Ianto started to wriggle, Jack chuckled as he realized what the man was doing and he reached for the strap.
"Don't think I need it tonight," he said, leaning a little to get it safely over to a night table and then settling back down with his arms curled around the two younger men. Which was about the time Ianto started to sniff, an act that made Jack grin a little since Kyle had been sniffing earlier.
"Whatever would you two do if I took to wearing aftershave?"
Part 10
"Probably accuse you of overkill," Kyle answered with a shrug. "You smell like you wear some already."
He tucked his head into the junction between Jack's head and shoulder and sighed. With three people in the bed it would be warm. He wasn't about to move away from the pleasant tangle of limbs though.
"Personally, I'd smack you one. I like how you smell now far too much to tolerate you wearing aftershave." Ianto didn't want how Jack smelled to be covered up of disguised at all. "Besides, it bring me fond memories of capturing Myfanawy in that warehouse." More mixed than fond, really, but that was how he wanted to refer to them.
He sniffed again for good measure - he had really, really missed Jack's smell - and settled down again properly, happy to breathe softly into the skin of Jack's neck and shoulder. It was comforting.
Giving Kyle's toes a cheeky little chase with his own, Jack chuckled and then settled down into the content tangle of limbs that was the three of them in a bed.
This, this right here was home. Not a place or a time but a feeling, an experience of love, companionship, warmth and comfort.
Dropping light kisses on both their temples, Jack rested his cheek against Kyle's hair and stroked his fingers lightly along Ianto's side.
"I'm so proud, of both of you," he whispered.
Kyle's mouth twisted into a little, confused frown at that comment.
"We didn't do anything," he pointed out. He'd been unable to convince anyone to take him along in the TARDIS to rescue Jack, and that still stung, and on top of that Kyle had felt utterly useless the entire time people were out fighting the Major and his minions.
He wanted to remedy that now. As he'd informed the Major, the courtroom was his battleground and he did not lose there. But he'd deal with all that tomorrow. Today was just for rejoicing in the fact that they were all together and safe.
Alternatively, Ianto knew Jack was proud of them for not doing anything, and therefore, not making the situation worse. Ianto had very much wanted to march in there, but he knew it would only cause more problems, and he didn't leave and go in the TARDIS, because he didn't want Kyle to be alone.
"We're very proud of you too," Ianto murmured into Jack's skin, proud of him for being brave enough to do something like that, proud of him for keeping his head after experiencing everything, even if half the time Ianto wanted to bash his head in for the stupidity of it all. But it had been a necessary stupidity.
If Ianto had anything to say about it, Kyle would have to wait until the day after that, even. Tomorrow was a time for being together, too.
Jack would back up Ianto's insistence that tomorrow was together time. There would be plenty of opportunity for Kyle to look into the Major's trial.
For now, Jack snuck in one more round of kisses and then went back to his settled position. In very short order he was asleep. Rare for Jack who never slept much but the past week had been very very long, his mind and body were ready for some rest.
Kyle, even though he was exhausted, took a lot longer to fall asleep. He kept still and watched Jack breathe, keeping an eye on the rise and fall of the other man's chest. They were precious minutes spent knowing that the people he loved were safe and close at hand. He wasn't going to waste them sleeping.
He'd been almost half asleep as he'd breathed gently into Jack's neck, and was going to follow after the older man in pretty short order.
However first he reached up to rub a thumb gently against Jack's cheek just in the spot where the skin would crease into it's familiar dimple, even though it wouldn't while Jack was sleeping. Then, with a sigh, he kept one hand tucked between himself and Jack, and dropped the other onto Kyle's shoulder as he too, fell asleep.