A/N: I kinda got this idea listening to the song 'Happy' by Leona Lewis. What if Ianto stole Jack's vortex manipulator one night and tried to change himself by going into the past to the point that he was at his happiest, and asking himself to stay that way? How does it change his life when he does so? This story is how everything changed when he promised to take a chance and be more happy and open with everything and everyone, including Jack. I hope you guys like this.
Disclaimer: I obviously don't own anything Torchwood related... darn it.
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Fifteen year old Ianto was tired of being sick. He was curled up in his bed, hugging a giant polar bear as he waited for his coughs to subside.
"Ianto, time for you to take your medicine." said Sarah softly as she checked his forehead to see if his fever was breaking.
Ianto looked up at his loving foster mother and saw that she was smiling kindly at him.
"Still not doing too well are you sweet heart?" she asked.
Ianto shook his head with a harsh cough before letting out a tiny whimper, hugging the polar bear a little tighter.
"Come on Ianto, it's time for you to take your medicine."
"But muuum!" He protested with a slight whine. "It tastes terrible!"
"I know it tastes terrible Ianto." she said sitting beside him and opening the bottle. "But wouldn't you rather have a week of nasty medication that makes you feel better or an extra week of the flu?"
Ianto let out a muffled grumble as he buried his face in the giant teddy's fur.
"Come on then, open up." she said, gently nudging him.
Ianto didn't move.
Sarah sighed. "Ianto? Would you rather me send you father in here to make you take it? Because you know he will."
Ianto finally relented turning over and sitting up with a huff.
He really didn't want his father to come and force him. While he loved his gentle foster father, the man was a navy commander, and not the kind you'd want, ordering you to take your medication.
"Fine, I'll take it." he sighed.
Sarah handed him the little plastic medicine cup full of the dark red syrup.
Ianto took a deep breath and downed the medicine in one gulp before gagging and sticking out his tongue in disgust. "Blech! That's disgusting." he grumbled handing back the cup. He then snuggled back down into his thick duvet and wrapped his arms around the teddy's neck as Sarah gently tucked him in.
"Now then, that wasn't too hard was it?" she asked with a smile.
Ianto said nothing, he just let out a content sigh as Sarah gently patted his chest.
"Get some sleep Ianto, the more rest you get, the quicker you'll get better."
"Yes ma'am."
"Goodnight Ianto." said Sarah, leaning over and kissing his nose.
Ianto let out a tired chuckle, slightly harsh from his sore throat. "Goodnight mum."
He watched as Sarah left his room, turning off his light, and shutting the door. Then he snuggled with his teddy as his eyes adjusted to the dim light from a blue and green lava lamp on his nightstand.
"I hate being sick." he grumbled to himself. But then he settled in for the night, taking deep breaths as the soothing menthol sent from the vaporizer on his floor filled the room.
Ianto was slowly drifting off to sleep when there was a sudden flash of light and a loud thud causing him to sit bolt upright. He looked around frantically to find the room empty.
But then he heard a cough from the floor beside his bed. He snuck under his covers and cautiously peeked out from the side of his blanket to see a man in a suit laying on his floor, with the breath knocked out of him.
"Ouch! Is that how Jack used to travel? What a terrible way to go." the man grouched sitting up. But then he turned and noticed Ianto watching him.
"Hello there." he said with a smile.
Ianto growled like a guard dog, in a feeble attempt to scare the man who just chuckled.
"It's alright, I'm not here to hurt you." he said, standing up and brushing himself off.
Ianto starred, the man seemed familiar in a very strange way. He sounded Welsh, but Ianto swore he never saw a man like him. "Wh… who are you?" he asked slowly.
"I'm you. Sort of. Ten years from now."
Ianto sat up and watched the man closely. "You're not me."
"I am." said the man with a nod.
"Then tell me something only we would know." Ianto said.
"Alright, dad gave you that teddy because when we first arrived here we ended up with appendicitis and had to go into the hospital. We woke up with it sitting on top of us and dad said it was so we'd have something to hug other then the pillow."
"Everyone in the house knows that story." he pointed out.
The man let out a heavy sigh. "Fine, you keep a detailed diary about you adventures here with the family, and you hide it…. over here." he said, reaching behind Ianto's bookshelf where he retrieved the diary that was hanging from the draw string that kept it closed.
Ianto starred. No one knew where his diary was, not even his closest siblings.
"Okay, so…. If you're me…. Why are you wearing a suit? I hate suits!" he protested. "Especially ties."
"You get used to it, trust me." the man said sitting in the desk chair beside him.
"Why are you here?"
"Because I borrowed a friend's vortex manipulator so I could come say hello." he said, holding up his wrist so Ianto could see a strange brown wrist strap.
"Okay, so ten years, you're what? Twenty five?"
"I am." he admitted with a nod.
"Well….. Where do we live? Do we have a girlfriend? And we what? Become a business man?" inquiring about the suit.
"We go to London and eventually end up back in Cardiff, I'm definitely not a business man, and we don't have a girlfriend."
Ianto caught something in the older man's voice and he stared. "What? A… boyfriend?"
He looked at the floor and shrugged. "Something like that I suppose." he muttered.
Ianto sat and contemplated the meaning of what he was just told and he was surprised to find, that he didn't seem to mind the notion at all. He had plenty of older foster siblings and cousins that ended up gay, of course, he also knew it took them forever to get comfortable with themselves. "Is he… is he handsome?" he asked slowly.
"Very."
"Is he nice?"
"Absolutely."
"Are we comfortable with it?"
"Still trying to get used to it, though you don't seem too shocked." said the man somewhat surprised.
"Maybe because I'm a lot more open minded right now." he suggested with a shrug. "Please don't tell me I end up the kind of guy that blends into the shadows."
"Something relatively close to that."
Ianto didn't like the sound of that. It had taken him months in a special foster home to bring him out of his shell, and he liked the way he was now, he didn't want to go back to sulking in the dark.
"You know… you can change me." the older Ianto said quietly.
He starred. "What do you mean?"
"You can change how we end up. Just know that we will go through some difficult times. We'll have to work through but by all means, if you think that we can make it through and not change, please do so. I'm fine with the way I am, but… I'd be much happier if I was like you again." he said honestly. "If I was open and honest with myself again."
"I can do my best." he said filing away the information in his mind for later.
"Good, now then, I better be getting back before my friend realizes this is missing." said the older Ianto standing up. "Just remember to do your best to stay happy, and try keeping in touch with Rhiannon, she thought we just couldn't wait to leave, and she thought maybe we were upset with her, so let her know that she never did anything wrong, and that we do care about her okay?"
"Okay, I'll call Rhi in the morning then." he said making a mental note. "Anything else?"
The older man smiled. "For the record, the first time you feel like kissing Captain Jack Harkness, take the chance and see what happens." he said with a grin, then he dissapeared in a flash of light.
Ianto starred at the empty space before him. "Captain Jack Harkness? Who the heck is he?" he mumbled. But then he grabbed his diary that had be set on the floor and quickly wrote down the description of the strange events, so he would be able to remind himself that it wasn't just a strange dream. Then he set the diary down on his nightstand, curled up under his covers with the teddy and drifted off to sleep, wondering how he was about to change his future.
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A/N: okay, I hope you guys enjoy this, one thing I love about Ianto is how so little is known about his past it makes it easy to put him in new situations so I put him into my favorite foster family, which will be introduced in later chapters. So anyway, Leave a review, let me know what you think, feedback is always greatly appreciated!