fandomweekly | [#194] Autumn Fun (Torchwood)

Theme Prompt: #194 – Falling Leaves
Title: Autumn Fun
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1000
Summary: As far as Jack is concerned, the best thing about autumn is playing in the fallen leaves.

“I always feel a bit sad when the leaves start to fall,” Ianto commented as he and Jack strolled through Bute Park, heading back to the SUV following a retrieval, the Rift’s latest gift tucked away in Jack’s pocket. It wasn’t anything dangerous, just a small piece of carved wood resembling an elaborate, miniaturised newel post, although Jack claimed it was a representation of the god worshipped by an alien race called the Urffa.

“Sad? Why? I thought you liked autumn.”

“I do.” Hands shoved deep in his coat pockets, Ianto kicked at the damp leaves scattered across the path. “But it means another year’s coming to an end. The weather’s getting colder, and winter will be here before we know it. I’m not fond of the cold.”

Jack grinned at his lover. “I’d noticed. Prising you out of a warm bed on a cold morning isn’t easy. Sometimes I wonder how you ever managed to get to work on time in winter before we moved in together.”

“I put the alarm clock inside a tin on the far side of the bedroom, so I had to get out of bed to turn it off.”

“Aha! Fiendishly clever.”

“Having you wake me up is a lot more enjoyable.”

“I should hope so.” Jack gazed across the park; after a drizzly morning, the sun was just starting to break through the clouds, shining on the trees in their autumn splendour. “We never got anything like this back on the Boeshane Peninsula. What trees we had were small and stunted, more like conifers, and there wasn’t much in the way of seasons. Three-quarters of the year it was hot and dry, the other quarter was the rainy season, so we’d have bad storms, high winds, flooding… The trees didn’t change colours and shed their leaves, they just got blown over or hit by lightning. I like this better.”

“It is pretty when the sun’s shining,” Ianto agreed. “Not so much when it keeps raining and all the fallen leaves turn wet and mushy underfoot.”

“Yeah, gotta admit that’s not appealing. They get slippery, and they stick to everything. They’re much more fun when they’re crisp and dry.”

“Right, so you can scrunch through them.” Ianto sounded amused. “Just a big kid, you are.”

“What’s wrong with that? I never got to enjoy jumping in piles of leaves when I was a boy, so I’m making up for it now.”

“Except there aren’t any leaf piles yet. Not enough have fallen.”

“But they will,” Jack said confidently. “All the leaves on the trees will soon be on the ground, getting raked into piles for people to jump in.”

“That’s actually not the reason people rake them together.”

“Doesn’t matter, they still do it, and who wouldn’t want to jump into a big pile of dry leaves? We should come back in a few weeks and have some fun. We could come at night, if you’re worried about people seeing you.”

“You’d really do that, wouldn’t you? You’d sneak around the park after midnight, jumping in the leaves and throwing them all over the place so the municipal gardeners have to rake them all together again.”

“Why not?”

“You just love making more work for everyone.”

“I like to have fun. You should try it sometime.”

“I have plenty of fun. I just don’t want to be arrested for vandalism. Again.”

“Jumping in leaves is not vandalism. Everyone should try it; I guarantee people would be a lot happier if they embraced their inner child. Having to be an adult all the time is stressful.”

“At least we can agree on that.” Sometimes Ianto felt like the only adult on the whole Torchwood Three team. Stressful didn’t begin to describe it.

“So, would you?”

“Would I what?”

“Jump in the leaves with me.”

“I don’t know. Maybe, if they were dry and we didn’t make too much mess. I’m definitely not jumping in wet leaves though, and the long-range forecast is for rain most days, this week and next.”

Jack blew a raspberry. “You’re no fun.”

Just then, the brief burst of sunshine faded as the clouds drew in again and the wind got up, scattering more leaves from the trees. Ianto hunched his shoulders as his coat whipped around his legs.

“Looks like we’re in for more rain; let’s get back to the Hub before we wind up getting soaked. I don’t know about you, but I could do with a hot coffee.”

Jack spared a wistful glance at all the lovely dry leaves tumbling down but hurried after Ianto. “You know I’ll never say no to your coffee.” A brilliant idea was already forming in his head, a way he could have everything he wanted. It would require careful planning and a certain amount of hard work, but it would be worth the effort.

A month later, after the rest of the team had left for the night, Jack approached Ianto while he was washing the mugs from the last round of drinks.

“Hurry up and finish that, then make a flask of coffee. We’ll need it.”

“Why, where are we going?” An awful thought struck Ianto then. “Oh no, Jack. We are NOT traipsing though the park to satisfy your inner child. It’s been raining off and on for days; everything will be drenched!”

“I know that; I’m not an idiot!”

“Jury’s still out on that.”

Jack pouted.

“Fine, I’ll make the coffee.” Ianto dried his hands and set the machine working. A few minutes later, flask in hand, he joined Jack in the main Hub. “So where are we going?”

“Follow me.” Jack led the way to the lower levels, finally pushing open the door leading to a row of cells that weren’t in use. “TA DA!”

Ianto stared in disbelief. Every cell contained its own pile of crisp, dry leaves, and the floor outside the cells was covered in them.

“See? We can jump in them without getting wet!”

The End