Hope You Guess My {Name} ~ (Ianto/Doctor)

[The Doctor]

Taking his second round which was a burdock and dandelion brandy the Doctor sipped it. He watched John though his peripheral vision for sometime as he sipped the drink. It tasted good compared to the odd drinks he made for himself in the TARDIS. For a while he savored the flavor and seemed perfectly content. “Protest? Protest?!” His voice traveled an octave. “Most certainly not. I just have my Rose is all. Ask Ianto if you don’t believe me.”

“Well no shite Sherlock. I can’t believe you actually recognize it. Most Humans don’t realize that it’s a screwdriver that’s sonic. Very simple concept to understand; sonic screwdriver.” So John calculated his plan on time locking the device. Clever thing he was. The Doctor noted this to himself to use for a later date. Never know, might just come in handy. “Toy? Well pardon me, this is no toy. It’s my weapon of choice as it can’t hurt anyone.”

“Oh that Jack. He flirts too much.” The Doctor added. This was true as Captain Jack Harkness did flirt too much. The Doctor also took note that Ianto was being protective of Jack. And he also noted how John had some rivalry for this overly protection. It seemed there was some history the Doctor was lacking. Then it all seemed to click. There had to be some sort of love affair between the two men. Some complex love triangle between Ianto, John, and Jack. Something that the Doctor didn’t fully know about. Nor did he really want to. Love was a complex subject even for a very brilliant Time Lord.

[[sorry for shortness]]

[pande]

Ianto looked at John when the man looked like he was about to choke on his drink. He held back a grin and struggled to maintain that welsh persona of complete and utter uncaring. He nearly did it as well when suddenly the man burst out with his own comment about Jack. Ianto arched an eyebrow wildly and frowned. Of course Jack couldn’t be owned. But he was with Ianto (not that that meant the man wasn’t free to flirt with other people, Ianto just liked being included) at the moment.

It amused Ianto that the male just couldn’t see it like that. “Oh? Still feeling that sting that he doesn’t give a wiff about you?” Ianto taunted and then looked a little ashamed of himself. He was purposefully being spiteful to John, which was something that Ianto rarely did. It was just… John dug under his skin like only a younger sibling could. The man was incredibly infuriating! Instead of responding back, Ianto finished off his first drink and then ordered up a second.

He’d been watching with interest the play between the Doctor and John. The man flirted, the Doctor ignored it. John tried again, the Doctor seemed almost completely oblivious to what John was doing. Ianto smiled again and thanked the bartender as his next drink came up the line. Ianto’s peaceful (and mildly spiteful) thoughts were pulled away by the Doctor.

Rose? Wasn’t she his companion… or, former companion? Ianto shrugged his shoulders mildly and nodded his head a little. T’was true. In the back of his mind he could feel the drink slowly starting to affect him. It was mild really, Ianto drank some more and then looked at John. He really didn’t like the man, but Ianto wondered why. Obviously the first thing than sprang to his mind was that he’d been a former lover of Jacks.

Or was it that John was what Ianto might become when Jack left him? Ianto’s eyes narrowed and he glared at the table top. He didn’t care if John was upset that Jack had ditched him – Jack was with him! And he’d proven that he was going to stay with him too. So Ianto sighed and rested his head down on the tabletop and looked sideways at John and the Doctor.

[Captain John Hart]

John Hart laughed at the Doctor’s outburst. “Ah, a Rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” He inwardly groaned. When he was deep in his cups he tended to quote loads of things. He hated that.

He knocked back his drink. He wouldn’t bother asking Jones anything. Any word uttered to the man would only start him up on the ‘Jack likes me best’ rant that he was pointedly ignoring.

He glanced at the Doctor’s ‘weapon of choice’ and smiled. “Really, though, who looks at a screw-driver and says, ‘this could be more sonic’,” he laughed, motioning for another Scotch.

Then the Doctor spoke of Jack and he grimaced. If Jones wasn’t there he could go on and on about Jack. Jones left him with a bad taste in his mouth and a sick urge to take advantage of him so he could show Jack that he could have anything he wanted, if and when he wanted it.

Instead he just nodded his head. “Yeah, Jack does flirt too much,” he said, sullenly into his glass.

It was Jones’ words that smacked him across the face. He spun on his chair to face the Welshman. “You have no idea how much that stings. When you give and give and pour your heart out to someone, love them for everything they are, everything they aren’t and then they just turn their back on you because you aren’t really what they wanted in the first place. Yeah, that bloody well does sting. But what would you know about that? You get the hero, you win. Get that Jones? You bloody win now back off me!” he practically growled as his fingers itched to grab his gun.

Instead, he spat on the ground and turned back to his drink. He’d had enough of Jones and his pathetic whimpering. “If you love him, hold onto him. Otherwise you’re just as sick, sad and pathetic as I am.” He finished off his drink, ordered another and knocked it back.

He took a deep breath and sighed. He felt like a weight had lifted in his heart and he turned fully to the Doctor. “So, this Rose of yours…she a blonde? Blondes are good.”

[The Doctor]

In some ways it was good that the Doctor was making an impression upon Ianto Jones. Someone had to. Of course John wasn’t being that much helpful either. Typical fifty-first century hormones working in his system. The Doctor seemed amused at this thought that lingered in his head. He was brilliant and was having some fun amidst the atmosphere in the pub. He ordered himself a ginger beer as he wanted to stay as less gitty as possible. He thanked the bar tender as he finished off his banana daiquiri and took the ginger beer in its place. Nothing like a glass of good ginger beer.

Ginger beer… hadn’t had it since well he was traveling back with Sarah Jane Smith in his fourth body. He smiled as he took a sip thinking back to his old days of traveling and how he loved ginger beer as well as his pile of jelly babies. Of course he still loved those but that wasn’t the same as when he was younger and Lord President of Gallifrey. The Doctor let his thoughts wander off for a while and he thought of the first time he saw Rose. She was in the basement of Hendrick’s and he was there by sheer dumb luck. He took her hand and ran and they never stopped running. The Doctor nodded over to Ianto in thanks.

“Don’t mock with Shakespeare. I met him more than once.” The pinstriped Time Lord told him in a cold voice. How dare he, how dare John Hart quote the man he was practically drinking mates with. For a while he just glared at him with a raised eyebrow. He smiled and laughed as he said something about the sonic screwdriver being more sonic. “I do, actually. Glad you’re following.” And he was because it was nice having someone that did follow his odd set of terminology. The Doctor was beginning to take a liking to this John Hart fellow as he agreed with him on many things. Then again he was a people person and got along with a many organisms big and small.

The Doctor was considering taking Ianto outside and separating the two as they were fighting like school children. But then John spoke about Rose which caught the Time Lord off guard. “Yes and she is taken.” He said holding his ground. “If you want a blond, it’s not gonna be Rose because I found her first.”

[pande]

Ianto mostly ignored them as he drank yet another of his choice drink. He could feel the 'magic' of the drink already starting to work. It was wonderful now numb parts of him felt, and how angry other parts of him felt. He could feel the overwhelming urge to punch John. But, he was always in control. Never really privy to those inner emotional masculine things. He just didn't do random fights that had little or no purpose.

But John... John was a special case. Though Ianto was absolutely positive he would lose in a fight; he was ready to go all nine yards with the bastard. And while that was only apart of his inner emotions at the moment, the other wanted to ask about Jack. What did John know about Jack's past? Obviously he'd known about Gray, about young Jack. And quite possibly what Jack's real name was.

But it would utterly ruin Ianto's "manly" welsh pride to ask. So he never did. And part of it was because John WAS just that handsome. He left Ianto with a bittersweet tang in his mouth, what HAD Jack seen in him that kept the man coming back? Ianto hadn't the faintest idea. And Jack always seemed to get stiff, or silly when Ianto tried to even subtly breach those subjects. The man closed up. So Ianto let it go.

Even Ianto had to agree with at statement. He tilted his glass back and agreed. "Yeah," but it was soft. Almost unheard of. He wondered if John had ever felt that violent pang of jealousy when Jack said hello to someone in 'that' tone of voice. How similar where Ianto and John? Suddenly unnerved by that topic, Ianto looked back at John when the man addressed him. He felt his ire rise, but also sadness. Maybe it was the drink talking, but Ianto genuinely felt sorry for John.

"Sorry John," Ianto mumbled quietly into his drink. He felt cowed by what John had said to him. And then he looked a little thoughtful, "But you can't really hold onto a man like Jack," he said quietly. "He's like liquid, there for a time... and before you know it..." Ianto finished off his drink and studied the empty glass. "He's gone." Ianto was somber now. He looked at John and the Doctor as they talked about Rose. He smiled.

John didn't look too put off by not having Jack anymore. But he seemed to be more like Ianto (ack!) and kept (some) of his emotions in check and hidden. Ianto signaled for another drink and sighed as it slid into his hand.

[Captain John Hart]

“I do not mock the greats!” John defended himself. Even he had to admit that Shakespeare was a man to marvel. He cocked his head at the Doctor. “You too? I met him once.” He looked back across the bar, dreamily. He didn’t visit this planet with the same dedication that Jack did, but he would sometimes pop in. He had to do some work here for the Agency back when he was younger and before he knew Jack. He was sent to make sure that Shakespeare wasn’t killed by a madman who had threatened to kill off the great literary greats of the universe. (Even Shakespeare lives on in all of history. His stories are just THAT good.) Shakespeare, being the incorrigible flirt that he was and John being the pig that he was, well, the shag was amazing.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the Doctor’s words on Rose. He opened his eyes, largely, holding his hands out. “Oh, sorry. Not trying to steal your bird. Just making a comment on the beauty of a blond. I’m in no place to be coveting a Time Lord’s lady. I’m a leach but I’m far from stupid.”

What bothered John, when he had settled back into his stupor, was just how much he and Jones had in common. They were both in love with a man that was beyond their hopes. John’s only consolation was he could possibly find Jack in Jack’s future, when Eye-Candy was a long gone blip on the screen and try to start something with him then. Unfortunately, he couldn’t be arsed. There was something to be said about masochistic, one-sided affections. There was something to be said, but John couldn’t say what that was.

When Jones spoke, John almost choked on his drink.

“Did you actually just apologize to me? The Great Ianto Jones lowered himself to apologize to a piece of space scum like me,” he ground out. He was appreciative, but he couldn’t let Jones know that. He listened to the rest of Jones’ words.

Into his own glass, he sighed. “Like sand through an hourglass, so are the affairs of Jack Harkness.” He gave a derisive laugh and knocked back the rest of his drink.

[The Doctor]

The Doctor sat still observing them. It wasn't exactly traveling in a little blue box that was bigger on the insides but it was something. It was good. He needed to enjoy the moment and try to get along with the resources hat he had. It was almost like reliving in a time loop but not exactly as there was change and change was good. It kept the Doctor motivated and on his toes. He loved being on his toes. Facing danger, taking impossible risks was all apart of the fun. Maybe he needed something calming maybe this was set for him or was it a punishment?

His thoughts wandered as he sipped on his glass. It fizzed in his mouth under his tongue and it tasted good. The Doctor sipped and thought lost within his millions upon billions of thinks. Thinking was also a good thing. It pasted the time and moreover the Doctor was bloody good at it. Being boffin was simply apart of the complex society of being a Time Lord. One had to be boffin or face the consequences. Like now for an example, the Doctor's TARDIS was not functioning. She wouldn't fly and he was stuck in time and space. Well maybe not in space as he could move around and get from Cardiff to London if he really wanted to with a flash of the good old physic paper. But he couldn't go too far or leave the planet or the time period that he was stuck in. Not without his trusted TARDIS who was broken beyond repair-- and really the Doctor did try to fix her it simply didn't work. No matter what he tried and he tried it all. The whole book of tries and none of them worked. Not one.

Eying John he rolled his eyes for a moment. "You just insulted Shakespeare and now your taking it back as it never happened?"

[/color] The Doctor sighed. "Several times actually, I helped him write Hamlet. Willy and I are BFFs... that's the term right? Donna's helping me understand the principles of chat speak."[/color] Donna was his ginger hair companion. She could be quite the life of the party at times.

Sighing in relief he was glad to know that John was going to leave his 51st century hands off of Rose. That had to be a good sign."Then whats your IQ? 90? I'll have you know I'm around 195." [/color]

What was really amusing was that Ianto finished his glass and then spoke of Jack being gone. The Doctor let out a snort and tried to maintain the stream of laughter that was building up inside him. He found it utterly droll and metaphorical. Maybe it was just him. Then Ianto smiled and the Doctor wondered if it was something that he said or his snort. Was he really that funny or just entertaining? Shrugging it off he chugged down his drink and slammed the empty glass down on the table with the following comment, "Ahhhh now that's the stuff. Not exactly 22nd century ginger beer but good enough for an old depressed Time Lord like me."[/color] He motioned for another drink,"Banana daiquiri,"[/color] The barman slide one down his way and the Doctor took it in thanks.

"Leave the lad alone eh?" [/color] The Doctor paused sipping his fruity drink."Rose made Jack the way he is. I was there. Satellite Five." [/color]

[[sorry this took so bloody long]][/blockquote]