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Title: Surrounded
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack  
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 906 words
Content notes: none
Author notes:  Written for Challenge 134 - Dirty
Summary: Ianto discovers that sometimes being tied up is not the worst part

Ianto opened his eyes tentatively, unsure where he was or who else might be there. He'd learnt that sometimes it didn't pay to let someone know you were awake. He listened for a moment but heard nothing except for the occasional creak coming from straining wooden support beams overhead.

He was lying on his side and a quick wriggle told him his hands were tied sufficiently tightly behind him, as were his ankles, and that both were cramping painfully. He tried to sit up but at the first movement, felt pain shooting up and down his side, causing him to crash unceremoniously back to the floor. Broken ribs, he diagnosed, now remembering the heavy boots that laid into him moments before everything had gone black.

He couldn't see much from his prone position, but it could have been a cellar of some sort, or a shed. It was dimly lit in any case.

His head rested on the floor, staring out at what little he could see. Right in front of him lay a large dust bunny, just inches from his nose. He focused on it for a few minutes whilst trying to get some blood flowing back into his hands and feet, before deciding that the pins and needles were worse than not being able to feel them at all.

Somewhere nearby he could see a dark stain leaking across the floor from a large rusted can, and a thick pile of dust and fluff adhered to it. The strong smell was enough to tell him it was motor oil. The air also had the faint metallic tang of blood, but he figured that was probably his own.

Now the dust bunny was just annoying him, sitting there and mocking him. It was just one large ball of unidentifiable filth surrounded by more dirt and dust. The whole place had a manky smell of abandonment and disuse. He wanted it gone, well, at the very least out of his line of sight. He puffed out a sharp breath, dislodging the ball and sending it about a foot away from his face. Unfortunately he also managed to send up the cloud of dust that surrounded it. It irritated his nose and caused him to sneeze, sending yet another violent surge of pain down his torso.

Good one, Jones, he grumbled, still trying to get his breath back from the pain in his chest.  

He'd settled himself back on the floor as the pain abated. The dust on the floor was gritty and thick. He could feel it sticking to his face where he was pressed against it. The more he thought about it, the more it felt like it was growing and spreading further across his face. He hated it, and started to think maybe it was alien dirt and that it would take over his entire body. Even the air began to feel thick and laden with more dust and dirt as he breathed it in, feeling it choking him.

Get a grip, Jones!

Just as his paranoid thinking was reaching a tipping point, he heard a loud gasp behind him, which broke him out of his panicked thoughts.

Jack. How long had he been out? It must have been a bad death to take this long, he thought. He hadn't even known he was there.

'Jack?'

'Ianto? You okay?'

'Well, except for the broken ribs, and the paranoia where I thought the dust was trying to kill me, just peachy.'

'Huh?' Jack asked confused.

'Never mind.'

Ianto could hear Jack's muffled grunting and struggling behind him.

'Could they have tied it a bit tighter?' Jack complained, referring to his hands

'You too? Didn't they think you were dead?' He rolled his eyes at his own nonchalance about Jack's deaths. When had that happened?

'They did. The first time. Guess they weren't taking any chances second time around.'

'Excellent. And the others?'

'Should be on their way soon.'

'Good.'

They lay there in silence for a few minutes.

'You know, this place really is filthy,' Jack commented. 'Must be driving you crazy.'

'You have no idea. I've heard about psychological torture, but right now I'd almost rather take another beating than lie in the dirt a minute longer. It feels like it's crawling all over my skin.'

'I hear you. You don't wanna know the size of the cobweb I'm looking at right now. I just hope like hell that it's owner isn't planning on returning any time soon.'

Ianto recalled Jack's irrational fear of spiders. Well, at least if it did turn up, it would break up the monotony of waiting for rescue.

'It probably got disgusted with the state of this place and left.'

'Makes me yearn for the precision cleanliness of a Shadow Proclamation prison cell.'

Ianto didn't rise to Jack's comment. Certainly there was a story in there, and perhaps if they were going to be stuck here much longer, he might ask, but otherwise he'd let Jack share his secrets on his own terms.

'When we get out of here I'm going to have the world's longest hot shower.'

'Mmm,' Jack hummed in agreement, 'think I'll join you.'

Ianto didn't bother to mention that shower sex and broken ribs probably didn't mix. He decided he'd just have to be very careful.

'In which case I'm going to need two of the world's longest hot showers.'

Jack chuckled. 'It's a date.'