[#176] Out Among The Stars (Torchwood/Doctor Who)

[badly_knitted]

Theme Prompt: #176 – Space
Title: Out Among The Stars
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating/Warnings: PG
Bonus: Yes.
Word Count: 1000
Summary: Twice Ianto has been left behind, but this time he gets to go with Jack and the Doctor.



Ianto had started doing a lot of stargazing after Jack had run off with his Doctor. Night after night, when sleep refused to come, and the little room beneath the Hub had grown too constricting and airless, he’d slipped out and made his way to one of Jack’s favourite perches to stare up at the sky and wish he knew where and when his lover was. He’d pick out a star and wonder if there were habitable planets in orbit around it. Maybe Jack had been there on his travels. Maybe he was there right now.

On clear, frosty nights there were so many stars in the cloudless winter skies. Ianto knew he was seeing only a fraction of what would be visible without the light pollution from the city spread out beneath him, but that hadn’t mattered to him. It had been the closest he could get to the man he missed so much, standing where Jack had spent so many nights, gazing up at the stars that had never failed to put a distant look in his lover’s eyes.

On those nights, more than anything he’d wished he could be out there too, travelling the universe with Jack in the Doctor’s little blue box. Even if he’d had to share Jack with the Doctor, he’d told himself he’d be fine with that, because a little of Jack would still be better than none.

Then Jack had returned, and it had soon become clear that whatever had happened to him while he was gone, it hadn’t been fun. Ianto had felt oddly ashamed, even guilty, for the envy he’d felt, and for imagining all the fabulous adventures he’d thought Jack must be having. He’d believed the wider universe to be more enlightened than his home planet, which was not necessarily the case, especially considering how many times other races had tried to invade earth.

Less than a year later, the earth was stolen, along with several other worlds, and taken to a distant sector of space in another time. Unsurprisingly, Jack had run off again to help the Doctor, although at least this time he’d had the decency to say goodbye, promising to return once the crisis was over.

He’d only been gone for a few days, but it had felt like a lifetime to Ianto, especially after a Dalek breached the Hub. If not for Tosh’s time bubble programme, he wouldn’t have survived to greet Jack on his return. This time around, he’d felt very little envy for his lover, venturing into the enemy’s stronghold. He would have been quite content to never see another Dalek for the rest of his days, and he’d been reasonably certain Jack felt the same.

Only a matter of a few weeks after that incident, Jack showed up on Ianto’s doorstep in the middle of the night, urging him to hurry up and get dressed, then practically dragged him out of the house. Bleary-eyed and still half asleep, Ianto automatically assumed there’d been a Rift alert and Jack needed his help dealing with whatever had come through. Instead, he found himself hustled into the SUV, driven to the Hub, and before he could blink, he was being propelled inside the blue police phone box that was sitting beside the Rift pool.

“Jack, what are you…” Ianto trailed off as he got his first proper look at the inside of the TARDIS. He’d already been aware that it was bigger on the inside, but knowing that and actually seeing it for himself were two very different things. “Wow!”

“Aren’t you going to say it?” The Doctor appeared in front of Ianto, a manic grin plastered across his face.

“Huh?” Ianto frowned, his train of thought unfairly derailed.

“It’s bigger on the inside! Everyone says that the first time!”

“I try to avoid stating the obvious.” Ianto let his gaze wander over the console room. “She is magnificent though.”

The Doctor looked vaguely disappointed, but he quickly rallied. “Good enough. Right, shall we go?”

Once again, Ianto was wrongfooted. He’d thought the Doctor had come to borrow Jack again, and that Jack had fetched him so the Hub wouldn’t be left unattended while he was gone.

“Go? Go where?”

“Wherever you want! Within reason.” The Doctor’s grin somehow contrived to grow wider; frankly, Ianto found it a bit disturbing.

“Sorry, I seem to be missing something here. I only just woke up. Either that or I’m still asleep and dreaming.”

“The Doctor stopped by for a visit,” Jack explained. “So I persuaded him to take us on a trip. The Rift should be quiet for a few days, and I made him promise to have us back here tomorrow at the latest. So, is there anywhere in particular you’d like to see?”

“Seriously?” Suddenly Ianto didn’t care if he was dreaming; this was the opportunity of a lifetime.

“Wherever you want.” Jack took Ianto’s hands and looked into his eyes, smiling softly. “You deserve this, Ianto Jones. A whole lot more than I ever did. So, what would you like to see?”

‘Everything!’ Ianto’s brain urged, ‘I want to see it all, do it all, go everywhere!’ Which would probably be a bit much to fit into a quick trip. He pulled himself together and reined in his excitement.

“Well, I’ve always wanted to take a close look at Saturn’s rings.”

“Boring.” Jack blew a raspberry, making Ianto grin.

“In that case, I’d like to visit an alien planet, maybe somewhere far into the future, where the people look nothing like us.”

“I know just the place!” The Doctor bounced on his toes. “Mycellus, where the people are sentient mushrooms. It’s a bit damp there, but you’re Welsh; you’re used to rain.”

With that they were off, the TARDIS lurching beneath their feet as she swept through the vortex towards their distant destination.

Ianto’s heart was racing; he was out in space, heading for another planet! He might never want to go home again.


The End