He Ain't Heavy

Title: He Ain't Heavy
By: mickeylover303
Pairing: gen
Rating: PG-13
Words: 1604
Summary: Ianto and Owen discover they may have more than one thing in common.

And even though there had been minimal activity around the rift in the past few days, Ianto felt most of the colour drain from his face at the sight before him.

The words were uttered quietly and accurately rendered Ianto’s reaction to what he’d just read. But it wasn’t as if he went looking for these kinds of things. Truthfully, he just happened to stumble upon an interesting piece of information that led to an even more interesting – if not harrowing – read.

He was just taking the time to clean up their tracks, something he’d always done and supposed he would always do in the near future. And while getting rid of all traces of Owen’s undercover stunt, he had somehow managed to come upon the name of Owen’s father, whose name sounded a bit too familiar for Ianto’s comfort. Because while Ianto always knew he was adopted, he never thought his past would come to haunt him in a manner like this.

He’d surmised thirty minutes ago – the time he’d been absorbing and accepting the possibility suddenly presented to him – that it was probably no more than coincidence. Even with the documents he managed to find that did in fact support the claim, some part of Ianto believed they were the product of a forgery.

But before he could even think of who would be heinous enough to do such a thing, Ianto lost his train of thought, startled when he heard a noisome voice not too far away in the distance. It was a voice that was coming precariously closer and a voice that belonged to the last person Ianto desired to see at this moment.

Ianto stilled. He somehow forgot he wasn’t the only one who was in the Hub early this morning. And of course, of all days, it had to be this one. He turned around quickly in his chair, placing his body in front of the computer monitor. Amidst the panic, the thought of simply minimising the windows didn’t register in his mind.

“Noth – Nothing,” Ianto replied hastily, his face impassive as his body became taunt. “Nothing, Owen. I was just looking outside the archive for more information about those liquid samples we found last week.” He inhaled and exhaled quickly, hoping the hurried explanation would be enough to satisfy Owen for the time being.

It was the first thing that Ianto could think of on such short notice; so of course it would be the wrong thing to say.

“Yeah, the same ones I’ve been testing?” Owen asked with a curious gleam to his eyes, his interest apparently aroused. He now stood in front of Ianto. “You’re actually being useful for once,” he remarked almost thoughtfully.

Ianto didn’t take much notice to Owen’s comment, too busy trying to keep the other man from seeing what he wanted to conceal. “Not too useful because I didn’t find anything, really. Nothing at all.”

Owen looked at Ianto warily, crossing and then uncrossing his arms as he decided to find out what Ianto evidently didn’t find. “Well, did you at least get more information about the subs-”

“No!” Ianto interrupted impulsively, lowering his voice before speaking again softly. “I mean…no.”

“Oh,” Owen said deviously; voice tinged with a twisted kind of excitement. “Now, I know you’re hiding something. What is it?” he asked anxiously.

Realising that he’d only succeeded in interesting Owen further, Ianto tried to protest. “I’m not-”

“Let me see, Ianto,” Owen said irritably. He tried once more to see what was on the monitor, moving his head from side to side only to be hindered by Ianto moving in sync with him. “It’s not like you’re looking at porn. Tosh already blocked all the good sites a long time ago.”

Ianto firmed his grip on the edge of the desk, pushing himself and the chair against it so Owen couldn’t pull him away. “You can’t,” he said, inwardly cringing at how petulant he must have sounded at that moment.

“Move, Ianto,” Owen grunted, taking hold of Ianto’s shoulder and pushing the younger man to the side. “You’re acting like a – What the fuck is this?”

Ianto sighed heavily as he took in Owen’s astounded expression. “Well, you are the one who insisted on looking.” And while it was somewhat of relief to know he wasn’t the only one thrown off kilter by his discovery, his voice didn’t necessarily betray his unraveling nerves.

“But I didn’t think I’d find this,” Owen said incredulously. He looked at Ianto’s face, his vision slowly trailing to the hand that was still resting on Ianto’s shoulder. And as if the contact burned him, Owen removed his hand quickly, almost jumping away when he realised how close he was to Ianto.

“Shut up, Ianto,” Owen said nervously. He paced for a few seconds as he placed one hand on his hip, the other gripping strands of his hair. He paused suddenly, turning back to Ianto. “I know who did this,” he said resolutely. “Tosh did this, didn’t she? All because I didn’t-”

“Tosh didn’t do it,” Ianto said calmly. “I found the files myself after removing the remaining traces of your alias.” He faced the computer once more, fingers moving across the keyboard before photos of two men came across the screen. “And I took the liberty to see if there was any evidence for this…or at least a physical resemblance that might be able to credit it.”

Owen sighed deeply before looking at the monitor, again; more somewhat incredulous at what he saw. “You manipulating pictures now, is that it?” he asked, his tone relaying that he saw a resemblance between the two people on the screen, as well.

“I just put them beside one another.” Ianto looked at Owen with a slighted expression on his face. “And I’m not saying that I believe it, yet, but-”

“I can deny as long as I want, thank you very much.” Owen narrowed his eyes at Ianto. “And all people look the same anyway. Who’s to say that-”

“I even think I’m warming up to the idea,” Ianto said teasingly, more comfortable with the situation now that Owen was the one out of sorts.

Owen sighed wearily before taking a seat in a chair next to Ianto and scratching the back of his neck. “Never mind, I don’t – I don’t believe this.”

“It has to be just coincidence. And even if I had a younger brother, I’m pretty damn sure I would remember him.”

“And I would have been – Oh hell, you’re actually starting to buy into this shit, aren’t you?”

“Just because it’s seems unlikely, doesn’t mean that it can’t be true,” Ianto said, leading to a brief moment of silence that left both he and Owen contemplating.

“Don’t think this means anything,” Owen finally said as he looked at Ianto pointedly. “It won’t change the way I treat you. In fact, I just may treat you even worse because of it.”

Owen sucked his teeth but paid the comment little attention. “Well, at least I’m the older one, right?”

“You find out the possibility that we may be long lost brothers and the only thing you care about is being older than me?”

“And considering what we’re exposed to on a daily basis, you immediately accept that possibility without wondering if someone out there has an ulterior motive?”

When the other man gave him a glare, Ianto bit his bottom lip in an attempt to hide the smirk threatening to surface. It seemed like he wasn’t the only one supposedly buying into this shit.

“Still, it doesn’t change anything between us, all right,” Owen said. Though, his tone suggested the words were more of a demand than a request.

Ianto nodded slowly. While the idea that he and Owen being related seemed morbidly entertaining, nothing was finite and he didn’t know if he could handle Owen playing the age card alongside the other card he never hesitated to use. “This never happened…right,” he readily agreed. He peered at Owen curiously, still sitting as the other man began to stand.

After a moment, Owen carefully placed a hand on top of Ianto’s head. Ianto really wasn’t sure what to make of the gesture. There was a small part of him that thought Owen was actually considering the idea of being brothers until the other man pulled on his hair, making Ianto’s face contort in pain.

“What the hell was that for?” Ianto asked angrily as he gently nursed the area on his head now missing a few hairs. Owen only responded with a cheeky smile, obviously enjoying the small pain he caused Ianto far too much.