I Called Him Cariad

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ianto came into Jack's room, and handed him one of the two mugs in his hand. Noticing Jack's mess of clothes on his bed, he set down his own mug with a sigh. "Really, Jack?" He indicated the mess of dirty and clean laundry.

Jack shrugged. "I was going to get to it. Eventually."

Ianto rolled his eyes and began sorting through what was clean and what was dirty, making two piles. When he was done, he folded what was clean and put it away, and sorted the dirty pile into separate loads. When Jack tried to help, he stopped him. "You're going to make this worse. Just finish emptying the other things and put them away."

Jack held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, keep your pants on." He moved to do as Ianto said.

Ianto smirked. "You sure about that choice of words, Jack?" he asked, with an innocent expression.

"What-?" Jack was confused. "Oh. OH! Ianto Jones, you have a dirty mind," he laughed.

Ianto laughed with him. Then he gave Jack a small poke to get him moving.

OOOOO

That evening, they were sitting together, eating dinner, when Jack decided it'd be the perfect time to question Ianto about his use of cariad earlier.

Ianto sensed something was up, and was uneasy. He figured Jack was about to ask some prying questions, and he wasn't sure he wanted to answer them.

"Remember what you told me when I asked why you don't seem to call anyone cariad?" Jack began.

"Yes." Ianto groaned inwardly. So this is where it was going. He should've kept quiet earlier. He had to think fast, if he didn't want this to go too fast before he was ready.

"So when you called me cariad before, was I-?" He let the question hang, nervous to voice the rest of it. He didn't want to get his hopes up. He had realized not too long ago that his feelings for the Welshman ran a lot deeper than he thought. It scared Jack, and he didn't want to admit to himself that he may be in love with Ianto. Hell, he was nowhere near ready to admit it to Ianto. But he wouldn't hide the fact he had feelings for him.

"Were you what?" Ianto wasn't going to make this easy on Jack.

"Was I the right person you were waiting for?" Jack watched Ianto, guarding his expression so he didn't give anything away.

"It just slipped out before. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry, Jack."

Jack looked as if he had been punched. "But- what about- you said earlier that you don't take it back!"

Ianto refused to meet Jack's eyes. "I told you, it was a slip, okay? I had missed you a little more than usual, although why, I'll never know. But it was a mistake. I never should have said it." He got up and fled to his room, slamming the door. He felt like such a bastard, but he was scared. This was new territory for him - he didn't know what he was doing.

Jack was stunned. earlier , Ianto seemed different - like maybe he reciprocated Jack's feelings. Jack allowed himself to get his hopes up, and now they were shattered. He felt his heart break, as tears started to fall silently. Ianto had been so harsh too with his words, and Jack didn't know what had gotten into him. 'It was a slip...didn't mean it...missed you more than usual...never should have said it...' The words echoed in Jack's mind. What the heck did Ianto mean that he missed Jack more than usual? Jack sighed sadly, his heart constricting.

OOOOO

Over the next few days, tensions were high between the two men. They were mostly ignoring each other, speaking only when absolutely necessary. Ianto got his article submitted early, having done all of the research himself, and not asking Jack for any input. Unlike he planned, he didn't mention Jack or any of his experiences with him. He still made coffee for Jack, but never gave him the mug, just left the mug on the counter. Ianto did whatever he could to avoid interacting with Jack, and was just slightly relieved when Jack did the same.

Jack recognized their situation was becoming untenable, and decided he was going to find someplace else to live. On the fourth day after everything had taken a turn for the worse, he started looking for a flat to rent himself. Financially, it wouldn't be an issue - Torchwood Publishing paid them well. He didn't want to look for another job just yet - they didn't interact much at work anyway, so that wasn't an issue, and he enjoyed working at Torchwood too much to leave. Moving would be sufficient. However, three weeks passed, and he found nothing suitable in Cardiff. Well - there were a couple options, but he didn't like them much, and two of the three were walking distance to where he lived now. He decided to check them out anyway, something was better than nothing.