fandomweekly | [#130] Full Moon Night (Torchwood)

Theme Prompt: #130 – Moonlight
Title: Full Moon Night
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG
Bonus: No
Word Count: 992
Summary: It’s a beautiful night, the moon is full, and for once Jack and Ianto have the whole evening to themselves.

A full moon was shining overhead, like a big silver coin pasted against the darkness, surrounded by chips of glass. Moonlight made a path across the waters of the bay, and Jack had the absurd notion that he could step out onto it and walk all the way to the horizon, like Dorothy following the yellow brick road through Oz.

The idea made him smile wryly, knowing that he’d just sink if he tried, his greatcoat soaking up the water and dragging him down to his death. Probably best to stay up on the Plas then. He’d drowned more than once in his unnaturally long life and had no desire to do it again; it wasn’t a fun way to go. Not the worst either, but still, death should be the last thing on his mind tonight.

Footsteps behind him alerted him to the fact that he wasn’t alone, but he didn’t turn around, just stayed where he was, arms folded on the top rail, one foot resting on the lowest, as he gazed out at that tempting yet illusory moonlit path.

“Sorry, took me longer than I expected.” A Welsh-accented voice drifted out of the darkness as a shadowy figure came to lean against the railings beside him. Jack’s smile widened.

“Don’t tell me; you wanted to make yourself pretty for me, but you couldn’t find a thing to wear.”

A soft huff of amusement greeted his words. “I’m not Gwen.” A shoulder nudged against Jack, hard enough to almost make his arms slide off the railing. “I’m not a certain immortal Captain who likes to spend an hour in front of the mirror getting his hair exactly right either. Although, I will admit that shaving in complete darkness is not the easiest thing to do. I may have drawn blood a time or two.”

“You didn’t have to go to the trouble of shaving, you know. It’s not as if anyone’s going to see you all that clearly.”

“Perhaps not, but that doesn’t mean appearances aren’t still important.”

“Aha, I was right! You did want to make yourself pretty for me! For the record, I love the rough and ready three-day stubble look too. It’s very manly.”

“The half-day stubble look, however, only gives the appearance of not having washed my face,” Ianto pointed out.

“Like I said, it’s not as if anyone’s going to see.” Jack pushed away from the railings and swept one arm around in an all-encompassing gesture. “If not for the moonlight, we’d need torches just to keep from blundering into things.”

“Mm,” Ianto agreed. “I took the liberty of bringing a couple with me, just in case they might be needed.”

“Ianto Jones, boy scout,” Jack teased. “We have romantic moonlight, and you brought torches.”

“Laugh all you like, but we might not be the only people out here tonight, and the moonlight doesn’t reach everywhere. You know we’re probably going to be blamed for this, don’t you?”

“Power cuts happen, even in the twenty-first century. Torchwood wasn’t responsible for sabotaging the power station. I keep telling the Prime Minister that he needs to work harder towards switching to green energy alternatives. Solar, water, and wind power are there just waiting to be harnessed, but he’d rather pander to the big fossil fuel conglomerates. He’s probably getting kickbacks from them.” Jack turned to face Ianto. “Anyway, forget all that for now. There’re better things to talk about on a date night. Reaching out, Jack caught one of Ianto’s hands and reeled him in for a moonlit kiss.

“Date night in the middle of a power cut. I hope you realise that means we can forget about dinner in a restaurant, unless we can find one that relies entirely on gas for cooking meals, which doesn’t sound terribly likely.”

Jack shrugged, moonlight catching on his hair and the shoulders of his coat. “We can eat in a restaurant anytime. I was thinking more along the lines of a romantic moonlit stroll, down through Waterfont Park, past the Norwegian Church, then around and across the Barrage to Penarth.”

“What’s in Penarth?”

“We could find out. Or we could go the other way and stroll along the banks of the Taff, up to Cooper’s Fields. Your choice.”

“Or perhaps we could just stroll back to my place and sit out on the patio with beer, and cold sausage sandwiches,” Ianto suggested.

Jack thought about it for all of five seconds. “Sold.”

Half an hour later, they were ensconced in cushioned patio chairs, munching on sausage sandwiches, the radiance from the full moon catching on the garden pond, making it look like it was filled with mercury.

“Whoooo?” an owl asked from the hawthorn tree in the corner.

“Excellent question.” Ianto tipped his beer in the owl’s direction. “Cheers, and good hunting to you.”

Jack had his feet up on the rim of a planter, sandwich in one hand, beer bottle in the other. “This is much better than my ideas,” he admitted.

Ianto smirked across at his lover. “I had ulterior motives.”

“So we’d have easy access to a bed for later?” Jack’s teeth flashed white in a shaft of moonlight.

“No, that goes without saying. The power’s out and I didn’t want last night’s leftover sausages going to waste.”

Jack blinked at that. “Seriously?”

“You should never underestimate the humble sausage.” Ianto reached for another sandwich. “You can’t say these aren’t good.”

After a moment’s consideration, mostly because his mouth was too full to speak, Jack swallowed hard and nodded. “Best sausage sandwiches I’ve ever had. Just the right amount of sauce.”

“I am quite skilled in the art, if I say so myself.”

In the houses along the street, lights started to come on. Jack sighed regretfully. “Looks like the power’s back.”

Ianto just smiled. “Doesn’t mean we have to turn our lights on.”

“True.” Jack looked up at the moon before glancing across at his lover. “The moon’s all the light we need.”

The End

[#130] Full Moon Night (Torchwood)

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