Title: Untitled
By: cupiecake
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG
Summary: Jack meets Ianto's younger brother.

***


Daffyd's insistent, and just as charming as Ianto can be when he likes. It doesn't hurt that his face shows his every emotion, delight shining in his eyes such that Ianto rarely ever shows. Jack's intrigued and curious, so he doesn't resist at all when Daffyd drags him to a nearby pub. He wants to hear about his baby brother, he says, and demands all the details.

Jack buys Daffyd a pint and wonders what he can say that isn't classified, what Ianto wouldn't have already told his family.


It turns out quite a lot; Ianto hasn't been home since he went off to London, "some posh government job, but not so's you'd notice - hadn't even the time to ring Mam up."

He hasn't even told his family that he'd moved back to Cardiff; Jack's not sure how to tell Daffyd about Lisa, about Canary Wharf, about - all of it, so he smiles and orders Daffyd another pint, tells him that Ianto's doing just fine, but he's busy, indispensable, the glue holding Torchwood together, and that's not a lie at all.

"But is he happy?" Daffyd presses.

Jack thinks of the stricken expression Ianto had worn when Lisa died. Of the peaceful look Ianto gets on his face when gets a chance to sit and savor a good cup of coffee. The battle-worn, tired eyes that Ianto gets after a mission; the bruises he wore painfully, unflinchingly, after their trip to the Brecon Beacons. The way Ianto smiles when Jack asks him inappropriate questions over a private frequency.

The thoughtful, distant expression Ianto gets when they lay together at night, right before Ianto closes his eyes to sleep.

Jack changes the subject.

Daffyd tells him stories about their childhood, about the clever pranks Ianto would think up for him to pull. How they'd switched identities once for a month, in primary school. The time when Ianto built an airplane, and broke his arm.

It turns out Daffyd's an artist; he's got a gallery showing soon. They should come, Daffyd tells Jack; but don't tell Ianto, or he won't come.

Jack thinks it's a great idea.

***