[#237] Too Much Of A Bad Thing (Torchwood)

[badly_knitted]

Theme Prompt: #237 – Hangover
Title: Too Much Of A Bad Thing
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1000
Summary: After a night out drinking to forget the events of the previous day, Owen has a hangover, but Ianto appears completely unaffected.




When Owen lurched into the Hub, two hours late, looking like death warmed over, Jack frowned at him.

“What’s up with you?”

Owen flinched at the volume of his boss’s voice, squinting through his sunglasses.

“Hangover,” he ground out through gritted teeth.

“Overindulge again last night, did you? I thought we’d talked about that. You were going to cut down on the drinking.”

“I did. I have. Mostly.” Owen staggered over towards his workstation, collapsing into his chair with a heartfelt groan, and pillowing his head on his folded arms. A cup of coffee was set none too gently on his desk, near his head, making him flinch again. A bottle of water and a couple of painkillers appeared alongside the coffee mug and Owen cracked open one eye, staring blearily up at Ianto. “This is all your fault,” he muttered, giving Ianto a disgusted look.

“How is your overindulgence Ianto’s fault?” Jack folded his arms over his chest and glared down his nose at the team medic, who looked in urgent need of his own medical talents.

“Ran into Teaboy there in a bar and we got wasted together. We needed it after yesterday. You remember. Space whale, some bastard tryin’ to put a bullet through your boy toy’s head… Any of that ringin’ a bell? Not that you gave a damn about either of us last night, too busy fallin’ all over yourself lettin’ Cooper get away with everything. I notice she’s not ‘ere this mornin’.” Owen levered himself upright, gulped the painkillers down with a couple of swigs from the water bottle, then cradled his coffee mug in both hands, inhaling the steam and hoping it would help the pounding in his head without him having to actually drink any of it.

“Rhys got shot, Gwen needed to be there for him,” Jack defended his decision to give Gwen the day off.

“If Ianto or I’d been shot, you’d expect up to be here, doin’ our jobs.” Owen stared owlishly over at Ianto, who was collecting the filing from the various workstations, looking immaculate in his three-piece suit.

“How come you’re not hung over? You started drinkin’ before I did!” It seriously wasn’t fair; Ianto looked fresh as the proverbial daisy, not a hair out of place.

“I’m not a lightweight like you.” Ianto smirked at Owen. “Plus I hydrate properly, something you should know about. You keep telling everyone you’re a doctor.”

Jack chuckled at that. “Ianto one, Owen zero!”

“Shut up,” Owen muttered, setting his coffee down untasted and pillowing his throbbing head on his arms again, hoping the painkillers would kick in soon. He wasn’t entirely convinced he wasn’t still half plastered from the previous night, although he felt bad enough that he was probably sober. Lingering alcohol in his system would have provided a welcome cushion.

“If anyone needs me for anything, I’ll be down in the archives,” Ianto said brightly. “I’ve got a pile of filing to do, and I really need to get on with sorting the nineteen-sixties.”

“You’re wastin’ your time,” Owen mumbled. “The nineteen-sixties are beyond help. I’ve seen pictures.”

Laughing, Ianto strode away, disappearing through the door to the lower levels. Owen turned his head just enough to follow him with his eyes.

“How can he be so disgustingly chipper after last night? He couldn’t even walk straight when we left the pub!”

“Maybe he just handles his drink better than you do.” Jack studied Owen for a moment. “You’d better do something about that hangover.”

“I just need to sleep it off. Or maybe die; that might be preferable.”

As soon as Ianto was out of sight of the main Hub, his shoulders sagged, and he shambled down the rest of the stairs to the comfortingly cool dimness of the archives. Dumping the pile of folders on the end of his desk, he collapsed onto the sofa he’d found in a storage room and moved to what had become his office area.

He suspected he might feel even worse than Owen did, but thanks to his perennially pale Welsh complexion, his suffering didn’t show as clearly. His eyes might be a bit bloodshot, although eyedrops had helped with that, but his head was pounding, his stomach felt none too happy, and he still couldn’t quite see straight. A nap on his nice, friendly, lumpy sofa might help a bit, at least he hoped it would. The painkillers he’d taken earlier hadn’t done a damn thing.

Peeling his jacket off, toeing out of his shoes, and undoing his tie, he lay down with his head pillowed on a big, soft cushion he’d bought for Lisa, many moons ago.

“Ah, there you are.”

Ianto’s eyes shot open; he hadn’t even heard Jack approaching, despite the way his boots tended to stomp on the concrete floors.

“Jack!” Ianto sat up quickly, then wished he hadn’t as the world spun around him. “Was there something you needed?”

“Yes. To check on you. How are you?”

“I’m fine!” Ianto took in Jack’s disbelieving expression, and started to reassure his lover, but he couldn’t. Not under that piercing gaze that saw right through him. “I’m…not fine.” He sighed, closing his eyes.

“Hungover?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Ianto admitted.

“Then why the act?”

“There’s no way in Hell I’m giving Owen the satisfaction of seeing me like this.”

“One-upmanship?” Jack raised an eyebrow.

“No. He just always treats me like I’m some kind of wimp. Doesn’t matter that I’m a better shot than he’ll ever be, and having a better grasp of the English language doesn’t impress him, but if he thinks I can out-drink him…” Ianto trailed off, not even wanting to think about how much he’d drunk the previous night.

“He might show you some respect in future,” Jack finished for him.

“Something like that.”

“Here.” Jack held out a bottle of water and a weird-looking yellow pill.

“What’s that?”

“It’ll cure your hangover. Don’t worry, I won’t tell Owen.”

“Thanks, Jack.”


The End
 

Comments

[yoshishisha]

I sense some bitterness from Owen here, I hope they figure things out. Also his misery is so very palpable I feel disgruntled too XD

[badly_knitted]

No one was too happy about the way Gwen acted, the things she said, and the way Jack let her get away with all of it. Jack should probably grovel a bit to get Ianto's forgiveness. Owen... Well, he's always disgruntled, lol! He has it down to an art. Ianto tends to be more subtle.

Thank you!