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fandomweekly2025-01-03 06:50 pm
badly_knitted) wrote in fandomweekly2025-01-03 06:50 pm
Entry tags:
[#244] Frazzled (Torchwood)
Theme Prompt: #244 – Picture-Perfect
Title: Frazzled
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG
Bonus: Yes.
Word Count: 1000
Summary: The new, improved Hub is about to have its grand opening, and Ianto is panicking.
Ianto was cleaning again, and to Jack’s eyes he was starting to look frazzled. That wasn’t an altogether bad thing, under most circumstances; Jack found a frazzled Ianto rather delectable, especially considering the amount of hands-on attention that would be required to get him un-frazzled. That was always enjoyable for both of them. Today, however, Ianto’s state of frazzlement was inconvenient. There wasn’t going to be time for Jack’s usual method of un-frazzling, so he’d have to take a less enjoyable approach involving more words and less hands.
“Calm down Ianto! Everything doesn’t have to be perfect, no one’s going to care about the odd speck of dust or discarded sweet wrapper.”
That turned out to be the wrong thing to say, which was why Jack preferred the hands-on approach to the one involving words. There was less chance of making a tactical error.
A panicked expression crossed Ianto’s face. “Sweet wrapper? Where?”
Jack sighed; he should have known Ianto would overreact to the scrap of overlooked litter. “Under Gwen’s desk. It probably fell out of the bin when you were emptying them.”
Only Ianto would insist that the rubbish bins, which existed for the purpose of putting rubbish in, should be completely empty when their guest arrived. He immediately stooped and scrabbled around under the desk until he found the errant scrap of paper, then stood there holding it as if he didn’t know what to do with it.
“Put it in the bin,” Jack suggested.
“I can’t, I already emptied them!” Ianto hastily shoved the wrapper in his pocket instead, where no one was likely to see it.
“I don’t know what you’re so worried about. It’s not like the press are going to be here, taking photos and snooping under the desks, looking for anything you might have missed.”
Ianto stared at Jack like he’d sprouted a second head. “That’s not the point! I want to make a good impression, and that’s not going to happen if the place looks dirty!”
“It’s not dirty, it can’t be! We only just completed the rebuild and redecorating, we’ve barely even used the place yet. It’s all still shiny and new. Especially since you’ve spent the last two days cleaning and polishing everything. Much more of that and you’ll have worn off all the shiny newness.”
All that got Jack was a glare from Ianto. “Excuse me for caring about cleanliness and order!”
“You’re not just caring, you’re being obsessive, and there’s no need. Like I told you before, it doesn’t have to be perfect.”
“Of course it does! How often do we entertain royalty?”
“It’s only going to be a brief visit. Lizzie just wants to take a quick look around to see how her money’s been spent, which is only fair. She did give us quite a generous budget increase on top of the money for rebuilding. As long as she’s satisfied that we’ve spent what she gave us wisely, she’ll be happy.”
Instead of reassuring Ianto, that just made his face turn even paler than it usually was. “Oh God!”
Jack gave an exasperated sigh. As much as he loved Ianto, the Welshman had an unfortunate tendency to overreact, getting upset over the slightest little thing. “Now what?”
“I never should’ve suggested the murals, and I definitely shouldn’t have let you talk me into the one with the beer bottles! Whatever will Her Majesty think of us spending her money to paint inappropriate pictures on the walls?”
“A couple of dragons, a beach scene, and a few beer bottles are hardly inappropriate, Ianto. They give the place character, make it feel homey.”
“But it’s not home! This is where we work!”
“That doesn’t mean it has to be all cold and clinical. Well, apart from the med bay, the operating theatre, and the research labs.”
“But we shouldn’t have been spending the Queen’s money on… on… fripperies!”
“We didn’t. I paid for all the decorating supplies, paints, brushes, rugs and stuff out of my own pocket. Considering the hours we work, I figure we deserve some comforts.”
“I don’t know how you can be so calm about this! The Queen of England is going to be here in…” Ianto checked his wristwatch and somehow managed to turn even paler. “Less than an hour!”
“Then perhaps you should go and freshen up. You said you wanted to put on a fresh suit before she got here.”
“But I haven’t finished cleaning!”
“Yes you have, don’t be so dramatic. Anyone would think you had OCD. I suppose I should be thankful you didn’t try to have a solid gold toilet and washbasin installed for the queen’s personal use on her one and only visit. Now THAT would have been considered wasting her money on fripperies.”
“Gold would be too cold to sit on, not to mention impractical. There’s a perfectly nice, unused washroom off the medical suite. I put brand new fluffy towels in there, just in case.”
“Of course you did, you think of everything. Now go, get changed, and stop worrying. Once Lizzie sees how well we’ve equipped this place, she’ll be more than satisfied. We’ll give her the grand tour, then the Doctor will return her to Buckingham Palace. As far as anyone else will know, she was there all the time.”
“If we end up locked in the Tower, I’m blaming you!” Ianto took a quick look around, grabbed his cleaning supplies, and started across the new Hub to put them away just as a screech echoed from overhead, bringing him to an abrupt halt. He turned to stare at Jack with narrowed eyes. “You’d better not have let Myfanwy out! The last thing we need is to have her getting overexcited and divebombing everyone!”
“She’s fine, just a bit fractious over being shut in. Still getting used to her new eyrie. Now hurry along; Lizzie might arrive early.”
“Oh God!”
Jack smirked as Ianto scurried away. Maybe he’d take a photo himself, for posterity.
The End
“Calm down Ianto! Everything doesn’t have to be perfect, no one’s going to care about the odd speck of dust or discarded sweet wrapper.”
That turned out to be the wrong thing to say, which was why Jack preferred the hands-on approach to the one involving words. There was less chance of making a tactical error.
A panicked expression crossed Ianto’s face. “Sweet wrapper? Where?”
Jack sighed; he should have known Ianto would overreact to the scrap of overlooked litter. “Under Gwen’s desk. It probably fell out of the bin when you were emptying them.”
Only Ianto would insist that the rubbish bins, which existed for the purpose of putting rubbish in, should be completely empty when their guest arrived. He immediately stooped and scrabbled around under the desk until he found the errant scrap of paper, then stood there holding it as if he didn’t know what to do with it.
“Put it in the bin,” Jack suggested.
“I can’t, I already emptied them!” Ianto hastily shoved the wrapper in his pocket instead, where no one was likely to see it.
“I don’t know what you’re so worried about. It’s not like the press are going to be here, taking photos and snooping under the desks, looking for anything you might have missed.”
Ianto stared at Jack like he’d sprouted a second head. “That’s not the point! I want to make a good impression, and that’s not going to happen if the place looks dirty!”
“It’s not dirty, it can’t be! We only just completed the rebuild and redecorating, we’ve barely even used the place yet. It’s all still shiny and new. Especially since you’ve spent the last two days cleaning and polishing everything. Much more of that and you’ll have worn off all the shiny newness.”
All that got Jack was a glare from Ianto. “Excuse me for caring about cleanliness and order!”
“You’re not just caring, you’re being obsessive, and there’s no need. Like I told you before, it doesn’t have to be perfect.”
“Of course it does! How often do we entertain royalty?”
“It’s only going to be a brief visit. Lizzie just wants to take a quick look around to see how her money’s been spent, which is only fair. She did give us quite a generous budget increase on top of the money for rebuilding. As long as she’s satisfied that we’ve spent what she gave us wisely, she’ll be happy.”
Instead of reassuring Ianto, that just made his face turn even paler than it usually was. “Oh God!”
Jack gave an exasperated sigh. As much as he loved Ianto, the Welshman had an unfortunate tendency to overreact, getting upset over the slightest little thing. “Now what?”
“I never should’ve suggested the murals, and I definitely shouldn’t have let you talk me into the one with the beer bottles! Whatever will Her Majesty think of us spending her money to paint inappropriate pictures on the walls?”
“A couple of dragons, a beach scene, and a few beer bottles are hardly inappropriate, Ianto. They give the place character, make it feel homey.”
“But it’s not home! This is where we work!”
“That doesn’t mean it has to be all cold and clinical. Well, apart from the med bay, the operating theatre, and the research labs.”
“But we shouldn’t have been spending the Queen’s money on… on… fripperies!”
“We didn’t. I paid for all the decorating supplies, paints, brushes, rugs and stuff out of my own pocket. Considering the hours we work, I figure we deserve some comforts.”
“I don’t know how you can be so calm about this! The Queen of England is going to be here in…” Ianto checked his wristwatch and somehow managed to turn even paler. “Less than an hour!”
“Then perhaps you should go and freshen up. You said you wanted to put on a fresh suit before she got here.”
“But I haven’t finished cleaning!”
“Yes you have, don’t be so dramatic. Anyone would think you had OCD. I suppose I should be thankful you didn’t try to have a solid gold toilet and washbasin installed for the queen’s personal use on her one and only visit. Now THAT would have been considered wasting her money on fripperies.”
“Gold would be too cold to sit on, not to mention impractical. There’s a perfectly nice, unused washroom off the medical suite. I put brand new fluffy towels in there, just in case.”
“Of course you did, you think of everything. Now go, get changed, and stop worrying. Once Lizzie sees how well we’ve equipped this place, she’ll be more than satisfied. We’ll give her the grand tour, then the Doctor will return her to Buckingham Palace. As far as anyone else will know, she was there all the time.”
“If we end up locked in the Tower, I’m blaming you!” Ianto took a quick look around, grabbed his cleaning supplies, and started across the new Hub to put them away just as a screech echoed from overhead, bringing him to an abrupt halt. He turned to stare at Jack with narrowed eyes. “You’d better not have let Myfanwy out! The last thing we need is to have her getting overexcited and divebombing everyone!”
“She’s fine, just a bit fractious over being shut in. Still getting used to her new eyrie. Now hurry along; Lizzie might arrive early.”
“Oh God!”
Jack smirked as Ianto scurried away. Maybe he’d take a photo himself, for posterity.
The End