thoughtformed | There's something familiar about this place.

Entry tags:

There's something familiar about this place.

Who: Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Tim Drake, Aisling
What: New Brew gets a somewhat surprising visitor
When: November First, before closing
Where: New Brew
Warnings: Overly Emotional People and broken family reunions

It's a really nice coffee house. Ianto could almost imagine it was designed with him in mind. Small, isolated, not much room inside and a very well taken care of and nice looking service bar. He almost laughs to himself that the place feels like home. Exactly the sort of thing he would look for, if he had ever opened a coffee place of his own. It is like this strange hell dimension is tormenting him with things he never accomplished, and never will, now that he's dead.

He runs his hand over the door before letting it shut, glancing around as he makes his way to the counter.

"I've been told this is the place to go, for good coffee."

He doesn't sound particularly optimistic about that.

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There was a slight hesitation on the barista's part. Unlike most baristas in most shops, he was wearing a bespoke suit, and the girl cleaning the tables off (one of the few touches that doesn't perfectly match Ianto's dream cafe) was dressed just as nattily, with the same tailor's eye and taste.

"You heard right," Tim said after a moment, breathing out slowly. "In fact, I'd bet I can guess your favorite drink by looking at you. It's a parlor trick, just a bit of cold reading, but... if you can look me in the eye and tell me you don't love what I pour you, it's free."

He pressed a tight smile between his lips, hands already moving, and in no time he was passing a cup over the counter.

Ianto kept his best straight face as he took the cup. He knew what it was instantly. He made this for himself on nights after a long, hard night with Torchwood. Trust Ianto Jones to use coffee to wind down, but he did. Even the smell of it was familiar.

That was ... surprising. A bit unsettling. It had his guards up and his emotions blocked off as he raised the cup to his lips. It even tasted nearly spot on what he made for himself.

Well. He was dead. If this was all pulled out of his head, the shop, the employees, the coffee. It would make sense.

He could look Tim right in the eye and tell him it wasn't his favorite drink of choice without the slightest hesitation. Instead, he went a different route.

"That would be lucky. I don't have any money, here. Or so I'm told. Other than a kind of stipend I apparently will be given at some point."

"The stipend card's in the welcome package they give you when you arrive, but it tends to get stuck in the crease in that manila envelope. And sometimes they don't load it for the first few hours. There's nothing worse than a bureaucracy that obfuscates by accident."

He had to cut himself short before he started babbling. It was hard to know what to say, how to react, how to do anything but feel like a bundle of raw nerves. My, people do come and go quickly around here.

Tim's a well spoken young man who dresses nice and makes good coffee. If Ianto were less ... well.. Welsh, he could kiss this man. Really. He's the first thing, besides Jack, that Ianto finds both unsettling in familiarity and comforting, about this unusual place.

"Are there other forms of government?"

He still has the folder, tucked away under his jacket. Hidden like a more savvy tourist might hide their map to avoid being spotted for what they are. Lost in unfamiliar territory.

He finishes his cup and decides to give Tim something rarer than Ianto's smiles.

Honesty.

"You make a good cup of coffee."

The grin comes wide and genuine and surprisingly bright.

"I was taught by the best. And as for government... maybe elsewhere, but not in this particular bell jar."

He needs to stop this, and he knows it, before it goes too far. But it's... much harder than he expected. Surprisingly hard.

Ianto almost actually smiles at that. It's just a slight quirk of the lips but one Tim will recognize as Ianto trying not to smile about something that has caught him by surprise.

He slips the folder out of his suit jacket and slips the card out to offer Tim. Hopefully there is money on it. The movement reminds him of the stain on his tie, though, and as he slips it away, he has another question.

"Do you have any soda water back there, somewhere?"

Good for cleaning coffee stains off of anything, really. Countertops or ties. And since he has no idea what finances or clothing options will be like, here, he needs to get that stain out before it sets.

"Sure," Tim replies, shaking the envelope out into his other hand and producing a trim blue debit card, which he promptly swipes across the register, keying in the employee discount before he rings up the charge.

"I'll put it on your tab and send my stockboy out with it, just as soon as he's done with his break."

"Thank you."

Ianto doesn't take a seat, but he does move a little ways away from the counter. It isn't a busy spot, and he likes that, but he isn't rude enough to block the space, in any case. Busy admiring the small coffee spot.

Not really his exact decor style, but he could see himself spending time there, if the coffee is always that quality.

With one quick look back over his shoulder, Tim vanishes into the back.

"Jack, run a soda water out for our new customer, will you?"

Ever since Jack had seen Ianto's post come through on the Network, Jack had excused himself into the back and was pacing, looking nervous and generally like a horrid wreck. He'd slipped into tears at least once in his privacy and spent most of his time wringing his hands and turning over the engagement ring he'd once given Ianto in his palm.

Once he heard Tim's voice, he finally pulled his anxious gaze from the monitors watching the CCTV from the shop and nodded, happy that he could finally make an appearance. Instead of his usual work attire, he decided to go for his classic greatcoat. Something familiar for Ianto so as not to overwhelm him with too many things at once.

"I'll be right there." He pockets the ring and heads for the front, stopping in the actual stockroom to pour a glass of soda water before sweeping out and, as casually as the angry hornets in his stomach would allow, offered it to Ianto.

"Your soda water, sir?"

The voice alone was enough to melt any remaining ice on Ianto's outer appearance. Their last meeting (parting?) had been a tearful one, and those emotions were all still fresh wounds under the surface. He had never expected to hear or see Jack again.

Trying to keep his outer appearances was a lost cause, and his carefully constructed calm since arriving was shattering as he took the glass with a,

"Thank you, sir."

He barely managed to take the glass, and his tie was quickly forgotten as he set it aside.

Public place be damned, Ianto was wrapping his arms around Jack and pressing his face into the man's coat. He may never be able to come to this place to get coffee again, and that would be a miserable state of affairs, but it was Jack. He was really there and Ianto could not continue to remain composed in the face of this fact.

Everything is just as he remembered it. The way he smells, the way he fits just so into his arms... it's almost as though he had never even left. Wound to the point of snapping, Jack's own resolve crumples the moment he hears that sweet Welsh accent, and the moment Ianto is in his arms, a grip that threatened never to let go, Jack is in tears and shaking.

"It's you.. It's really you.. Oh thank God... I thought I'd never see you again.." He places a firm kiss on the top of his head and nuzzles into his hair. "I missed you so much."

The extra enthusiasm of Jack's reunion is a bit surprising at first. Especially given Ianto's doubts that he would mean anything in Jack's life once he was out of it. Whatever promises Jack had made, Ianto hadn't expected he would remember him. At least, not to the point of a reunion like this. Jack had boxed everyone else away, so why wouldn't he do the same with Ianto?

In the back of his mind, all he could think was that this really must all be a dead delusion his mind had mustered up for him.

His arms held on tight to the only man who had ever found a spot in Ianto's heart, and he was glad no one could see his own tears when they were hidden, soaked up by Jack's coat whenever they fell.

"It's good to see you, Jack."

In between the lines. I never thought I would, again. But those words were much harder to voice.

There's a casual sting in Jack's chest when Ianto speaks... but he's here.. he's here and in his arms and he's not going away. Not yet. He sniffs and pulls back, just enough to be able to look down at Ianto. He looks tired, though after what he'd just been through... could anyone really blame him? He doesn't care about Ianto's appearance when he grabs his face and gives him a kiss directly on his mouth, and even smiles at Ianto through his own tears.

"I know.. I know that it can't have been long for you.. but trust me when I say I've waited too long to see you again." No, it wasn't another thousand years, but when Ianto was ripped from his side last time, most things stopped being relevant to him -- including the passage of time.

There's something about that statement that seems so wrong but feels so good. Jack waiting for him. Jack actually waiting for him. It's cruel and it's selfish, but the very idea of Jack being bothered by his absence for any length of time makes Ianto feel... relevant. Important. Like he existed for more than the seconds on his stopwatch.

He doesn't answer Jack back right away. He kisses him, and it is shorter than he would like but they're in public and Ianto is too Welsh for all this public emotional personal display. It doesn't matter how empty and small this coffee place is.

He clears his throat when he pulls away. Tries to distract himself dabbing water onto the stain on his tie, and says with forcibly concealed emotion.

"You can not tell me you actually work as a stockboy in a coffee shop and expect me to believe it."

Jack looks simultaneously amused and offended by the remark. "I'll have you know that I'm learning how to properly care for a coffee shop and make drinkable coffee at the same time." He leans against the counter and watches Ianto fret over his tie, unable to keep himself from smiling, even when he wipes his face with his handkerchief.

"But you've got me. I keep myself very busy, as I'm sure you can imagine." He cranes his neck to look about the shop, and when he lowers his voice to speak next, his forefinger has caught the waistband of Ianto's trousers and has tugged him close. "I could show you, if you like."

If anyone was wondering if Jack was still capable of sending Ianto from composed to flustered in 0 seconds flat, the answer was yes. He stumbled on his words, setting the glass of soda water down while one hand went to the back of his head.

"Jack."

That was a warning and a protest all in one word.

"Not here."

Yes, he missed Jack. Yes he had already more or less exposed himself vulnerably, emotionally, in a public place. But no, he was not going to let Jack get away with that blatant of suggestive flirtations in a public place around strangers.

"Do I even want to know?" At least he shifted to a teasing tone, there. That was progress. He wasn't getting defensive which meant Ianto just might believe Jack wasn't keeping busy by sleeping around.

Maybe.

A scratching sound came from the shop's door, accompanied by a soft whine. There, looking distinctly sad to be left outside when clearly everything worth seeing was inside, was an enormous white dog. Not just the yellow-tinged cream of your average creature, but a pure, almost faintly blue white that practically shone in the sunlight. She sighed, her shoulders heaving, and nosed the handle of the door, which she barely had to stretch to reach. Whenever someone made eye contact, her pointed ears pricked up and her fluffy tail began to waves leisurely. Won't somebody let her in? There's no doggie-door on this place!

"I think you'll be pleasantly surprised." Jack winked at Ianto, just as he heard something from the front door of the shop and was greeted with the familiar sight of Aisling in her dog form. "Oh. And I keep a dog now. Her name is Aisling." He released Ianto, somewhat reluctant to do so at first, and hurried to the front door to open it for her. He looked positively ecstatic when he greets her, his smile growing exponentially. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been quite so happy. Probably after he'd asked Ianto to marry him.

The dog caught Ianto off guard. He watched Jack with Aisling with some surprise, but Ianto wasn't as standoffish about animals as he tended to be about people.

He had always been a big fan of Myfawny. At least until Jack had used her to try to murder a slightly homicidal Lisa. He tried not to think about that, though.

"Aisling is a beautiful name." Something he might have picked, himself, honestly. But...

"She looks a bit like a wolf."

The big animal playfully dropped her chest and danced about Jack, gently roughhousing before licking his hands. She even tried to get in a good swipe at his face here and there when he let his guard down, but it was clear that she was just playing. She didn't actually mean to hurt him. She only paid him mind for a minute or two, though, and calmed down quickly.

Quietly, almost shyly, she stepped forward, tail swishing slowly. Hello there...

Jack laughed through Aisling's play, shaking her about playfully and scratching her on the chest and behind the ears. He kissed the top of her head and stood up, making his way back to Ianto and ignoring the other patrons who might have been alarmed at such a large animal being brought into the shop. "She's much more than that. And she's very sweet. Very protective of her family and the things she likes. But she's not dangerous or anything. Go ahead and pet her if you want. She won't bite you."

The look Ianto gave Jack could most closely be compared to an 'are you serious right now' expression. Sure they had tackled a dinosaur together but Ianto hadn't exactly stuck around to pet her when they brought her down. More than anything it had been a way in with the Torchwood branch.

Still, he cleared his throat and looked down at the nervously wagging canine, reaching out a hand for her, open palmed and not too quick.

Jack could say she didn't bite all he wanted. Ianto wasn't risking it that blatantly.

"You actually got a dog."

There might have been a touch of skepticism to that comment.

Keeping her teeth firmly under cover, Aisling reached out to sniff his hand politely, then slowly ducked her nose to butt her forehead against his hand, betting pets. The trick was to keep her overwhelming enthusiasm under control. She had to be calm. Quiet. Sweet. Not spook him. He didn't remember her. And no matter how pleased she was to see him, she couldn't forget that. So, gentle and easy and charming it was. She was just a polite dog, eager to please and even more eager for this nice new friend of her owner to scratch behind her ears.

"Why are you surprised?" Jack raises an eyebrow to Ianto and folds his arms. "We've kept pets before. And besides, look at how sweet and friendly she is. It's like the two of you are family already, with the way she's acting with you, anyway."

Jack snuck back around the counter, and returned momentarily with a flaky pastry that had been split in half and covered with honey. "If you're still unsure, give her one of these. She loves honey. Isn't that right, Aisling?"

"I'm not sure either Myfawny or Janet qualify as pets, Jack."

Still, Ianto does stroke the top of the large canine's head, rubbing the soft fur behind her ears like a man who has had dogs before. He frowns at Jack about the pastry, but indulges both him and Aisling by offering her the sweet treat.

Her eyes drift close with a soft sigh as he seems to instinctively find the best spots to rub, and she leans into it. But when Jack brings out her favorite treat, she can't help beating her tail on the floor, wriggling a little. She prances a little, but waits till Ianto offers before delicately taking it from him. She didn't even devour it on the spot! Look at her self restraint! Instead she takes a moment to wind around his legs and retires to her customary spot just behind the counter, out of the way of the customers and, coincidentally, where she could see the whole shop. Only then did she proceed to set the pastry on her paws and happily demolish it.

Jack watches with a certain fondness, watching the two interact, at least from Ianto's perspective, for the first time. It's strange to see Ianto so shy around Aisling, but he has to remember that Ianto isn't used to interacting with such large wild animals. Aliens, sure, but for the most part, they were predictable. But wolves? Who knew? Jack does, of course, but he's also been quite spoiled with Aisling's presence.

"There, see? Perfectly well-behaved. Something I thought you might appreciate, Ianto." He winks at him and laughs gently. "She likes you."

"She is a very sweet... dog."

Ianto couldn't help the smile that came to his face. He watches the canine wander off with her prize, glancing around for sight of Tim. He turned back to Jack, and really it was that he did know more about wolves and large dogs that had had him nervous. But not so shy as to avoid the brief interaction.

"Is this a Rift's doing?"

Had they fallen through one somehow?

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There's something familiar about this place.

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