24

Ianto looked right at him, and then shook his head.

"I'm nearly there," he explained. "At least I'm not jumping all the time now. Maybe in a while, I'll want more. I don't know. Fuck, Jack, we weren't any more than casual lovers —we don't have to build it up to be any more than it is."

"That's bullshit. Why won't you let me help?"

"I don't need help."

"You push Daniel and Kieran away… even Sean texted me to ask if you'd lost your phone."

There was a pause—a silence so complete Jack could hear the sound of his heart thumping in his chest. Ianto turned his back on Jack and rested his palms on the counter. He leaned over and bowed his head.

"I'm a grown man—"

"Not this again."

"Yes, this again. I'm a grown man who can handle his own problems. I nearly got Daniel killed. I nearly got you killed. God knows where he would have stopped…my mom? Sean? Don't you get it? Neil was my fault. I should have followed up on him—hell, just checked on the police database for what he was doing. I knew there was something about him that wasn't right."

"Okay," Jack said suddenly. Ianto tensed, and Jack carried on. He placed the keys to the truck on his end of the counter. "Your new truck is out front. Daniel, Kieran and I managed to get enough money together, so you have a pretty good replacement."

Ianto shot a surprised glance at Jack.

"I'm home the rest of today. If you can get your head out of your arse long enough to see that I don't want you so I can look after you, but that maybe I need you to look after me. After all, the man I love was nearly beaten to death." He left before Ianto could say anything. He wasn't sure if he'd played the right cards. Doc had told him he should try to make Ianto see that what had happened hadn't been all his fault. The only way he could do that was to show Ianto that he'd been scared too, maybe force Ianto's protective side to push past his fears.

He walked home, past the Chinese restaurant, past the school, until finally, he was in his small front yard. The sound of a truck drawing up next to him was a welcome relief. Now he had to see if Ianto was in a fighting mood or whether he was still in self-isolation mode.

"What did you say back there?" Ianto said as he climbed out of his truck.

"What part, exactly?" Jack could play this game all day if it meant getting Ianto back in his life.

"The man you love." Ianto gestured at Jack.

"Oh, that."

"How can you respect me, let alone love me, when you had to pull me out of chaos three times like some idiot?" Ianto snapped. Then he seemed to realize what he'd said, and he stopped talking and paled. Jack stumbled back a step. Finally, it all made sense. This wasn't Ianto in fear for Jack's life, or Daniel's, or feeling that it was his fault Neil had made his way to Holywell. This was Ianto thinking that Jack didn't respect him.

Jack opened his front door and stood to one side. "We need to talk," he said firmly.

Ianto was staring at him wild-eyed, and for a second Jack imagined Ianto was going to get into his truck and leave.

Finally, Ianto came to a silent conclusion and walked past Jack into the house, taking obvious care not to brush against him.

Jack's heart twisted. What the hell did he say now? What did he do? Ianto was his, and Jack was lost without him. He was in love, something he had never imagined happening, and he wanted a hell of a lot more than a couple of hot memories and a month of hospital visits and drama. He wanted years more together.

Ianto rounded on him as soon as he stepped inside. He looked angry. "Do you see now?" he demanded. "Did I not make it clear to you?"

"You just did. But I don't get it. Do you think you're less of a man in my eyes because I helped you out of a truck, or wrestled a madman to the ground? What about Duncan? What about me dragging your arse out of the fire? You forgot that one."

"All of it."

"You stubborn fucker," Jack snapped.

"And that's gonna win me over?" Ianto snapped back.

They stood there in a furious face-off until suddenly Jack knew exactly what to say.

"When I was a probie…God, I was, like, twenty-three, green as hell. We had this fire. An office had gone up in flames, one of those old buildings over four floors. A guy was trapped up on the third floor, and before we got there, one of his colleagues went back into the building to drag him out. Something inside that man—courage, duty, friendship, I don't know what—made him go into a building with a raging fire. Neither man made it out. That man running into a fire was possibly the bravest thing I had ever seen, and it stayed with me. Then you…" Jack stopped talking for a moment. He wasn't entirely sure he was making the right point. "You went in to get Duncan out. You didn't have to, but you did."

"I'm a trained—" Ianto started.

"First responder. It's what we do," Jack finished.

"Jack—"

"Ianto, stop, okay? Listen to what I said. I would have done the same for Daniel or Kieran—does that mean they're lesser men?"

"No, but—"

"Trust me when I tell you this. When you opened your eyes in the ambulance and looked up at me, I fell right damn-slap into lust with you, and when I got to know you, I fell in love."

"Because you feel responsible for—"

"Damn you, Ianto Jones," Jack said. In a second he had Ianto pressed to the wall, and this time Ianto didn't resist but melted back against its support. Roughly, Jack pushed up Ianto's dark blue shirt and loosened his belt. The noise of it falling to the floor was loud in the quiet room. "I love you."

Ianto didn't immediately respond, and Jack took the silence as an opportunity to kiss him. He pushed and pushed until they were both hard and ready.

Ianto shoved him, and at first, Jack didn't let him stop the kiss for fear that he was making a decision Jack wasn't sure he could live with. Then his jostling was too much, and Jack put some distance between them to allow Ianto to talk.

"I love you too," Ianto said simply. He was breathing heavily, but there was a new peace in his expression.

"You do?" Jack hated to hear the doubt in his voice.

Ianto smiled.

The bastard.

"I love that you didn't give up on me."

So much emotion filled the words.

"I love your stubbornness," Jack said firmly.

"I love your stubbornness," Ianto repeated.

Jack stepped back into Ianto's space and pulled him close before kissing him hard.

"I love your body. I love that you're my man."

Ianto simply pulled back a little and stared straight into Jack's eyes. He reached down and ran a hand over Jack's achingly hard dick. He smirked.

"I love your hose."

THE END