Short Shot - Another short shot from my biographer

 A.G. is always wondering about Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones.  Ianto introduced me to this fabulous person about 12 years ago and I never regret posting her Torchwood fanfiction which explores the early relationship between the two men.  Enjoy this first chapter!

FELIX TEMPS JACK HARKNESS

Part I – Enticement

Even though the pain and heartache

Seems to follow me wherever I go

Though I try and try to hide my feelings

They always seem to show.

-         Never Can Say Good-Bye, Jackson 5

6:37 pm on a Friday night and Ianto Jones was restless and tired of trying to read Nicholas Sparks’ latest.  He sat in his PJs and robe like a kid waiting for his mom to read him a bedtime story.  He was even drinking a hot chocolate.  He looked around his flat from his leather recliner, his fuzzy slippers dangling from his socks.  It was a heavy autumn chill and the winds were particularly robust.  He had hoped his 90s rap playlist would but a bit of bounce in his mood but it wasn’t really working.  Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t for the fact that he’d been home all day – force PTO from Jack who blew up at Ianto’s last timesheet – 71 hours in one week. Jack was reestablishing his authority after one of his unexplained absences. “You’re blowing our salary line item, Ianto!  And this can’t be good for your health.  Go home and don’t come back until Monday.” Jack slammed the ledger closed. “Have some fun, visit friends – you do have some of them, don’t you?  Now, go and that’s an order!”  Jack had forgotten that all of Ianto’s friends died at Canary Warf.

Ianto took a sip from his mug only to discover he’d left it too long.  He started to head to the kitchen when his pet, Felix came up and rubbed up against his leg.  Ianto bent over and picked up the feline – well, Ianto thought Felix was kind of feline on his planet.  While on a mission shortly after the Lisa debacle, he and Owen chased some Morratians back through the rift.  This small creature was left behind, like a worm at the end of a hook likely used for bait or a midnight snack like a tub of Chunky Chocolate ice cream.  Felix’s kind were farm-raised food back home.  Ianto felt sorry for the creature and begged Jack to let him keep him, “kind of like the Pterodactyl,” Ianto rationalized. 

Jack, still angry with him, never answered but dismissed him abruptly. “And take that thing with you.  I don’t want to see it around the Hub.”

Felix, named after the 19th-century German composer, looked like a reddish tabby but his face was more humanoid looking than your local stray.  He was lean despite eating more than more feral pigs.  He picked up English rather quickly between Ianto talking to him and watching the tellie – Felix loved TV especially reality and cop shows,.  Ianto had to adjust his remote so Felix could paw and speak his show or movie requests, thus allowing the creature to watch when Ianto wasn’t home.  But when he was around, Felix was attentive and loving.

The creature was hypersensitive to Ianto’s moods and always came along with good advice or a curl up on the couch.  Felix jumped on Ianto’s lab, using his head to butt against Ianto’s hand in that way cats do when they want pets.  “You’re lonely for human company?”

“Something like that,” Ianto sighed.  He put his book on the dark wood side table and fully applied his attention to petting the creature.  “I probably just need to get laid.”

“That may not be a bad idea – something to take your mind off of things.”

“Yeah,” Ianto said, daydreaming of soft kisses and firm caresses.  Ianto closed his eyes but the face that came was Jack’s.  This shouldn’t have startled him like that, particularly since he had sexual fantasies about Jack in the past.  Ianto sighed again as that relationship was a dead end just like the one with Lisa.

“You’re thinking of Jack again,” asked Felix with little in the way of judgement in his tone.  Ianto’s pet did not trust Jack, sensed the man had a darker side that Felix’s Ianto could be burnt by.  But Felix had also sensed the attraction from the start but had hoped Jack would leave Ianto alone.  Felix was fiercely loyal and realized that not only had Ianto saved his life, but the human genuinely cared about him.  It was hard for a “kitten” to find love on an industrial farm.  Felix didn’t know what his mum looked like let alone who was his father.  But here on Earth in Ianto’s home, full of cosy seating and plenty of food, Felix had found heaven and he would be forever grateful.  “Why don’t you call him?  I’m sure he’s never turned down a snog.”

“Right, even if he was interested, I have no idea of how to even start sex with a man.  Shit, I’ve barely been with women at this point!”

“I’m sure the good captain has enough knowledge for an intergalactic library!”  Felix nuzzled Ianto’s face and cheek.  “Okay, but you’re getting nowhere sitting in this house.  Go out!  What about that new pub around the corner we passed the other day.”  Ianto regularly walked Felix.  Folx audaciously stared at the oddity that was his feline, but he didn’t care.  And Felix liked looking up ladies’ skirts.  “Take a shower, put on something other than a suit, grab your umbrella and go.”

“By myself?”

“Have dinner, watch the scene, and flirt – if you don’t practice, you lose your touch,” said Felix before he scratched behind his ear.  “At least that is what the Housewives always advise the lonely single gals.”

Although advice from a silly show on the tellie was annoying, Ianto had to admit Felix was right.  “There were a couple of cute waitresses there.  No harm in seeing if anyone is interested in a quick shag, now is there?” “I reckon I can read anywhere,” Ianto got up.  “Thanks, Felix!”  Ianto went to the bedroom to shower and dress. 

It took Ianto some time to find something other than a suit.  He eventually settled on a buccaneer’s white shirt and light blue jeans.  Felix gave him the thumbs up and Ianto got on a coat then headed out.  Felix gave it 5 minutes, to make sure Ianto wasn’t coming back, then dialled the landline.

The fact that he could and did it now was the only deception between man and pet.  Felix didn’t like the call either but considered the truth that his master was actively trying to ignore.  When the person on the other line answered, Felix started with a threat, “If you hurt him, . . .”.