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Title: The name game
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 581 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 168 - Honey
Summary: Jack and Ianto play the name game

'Honey, have you seen my red braces?' Jack called out, padding down the hall and into the kitchen where Ianto was busy drying dishes.

Ianto put down the half wet plate and stared at him.

'Honey? Did you just call me honey?'

Jack paused, looking slightly guilty and a little shifty. They'd been together for ages now, and moving in to their nice new house was definitely a step in the right direction, but domesticity and something akin to normality was still something of a foreign concept. He really didn't want to screw things up now.

'Er, sorry, it just kind of slipped out.' He hoped he hadn't overstepped some kind of invisible line.

'Honey,' Ianto repeated, rolling the word around as if it were the first time he'd ever said it. He didn't sound angry, but then with Ianto it was oftentimes hard to tell what was going on inside that elegant mind.

Jack shuffled awkwardly from one foot to the other.

'I didn't mean anything by it,' he apologised. 'You call me cariad all the time,' he added in his own defence.

'I do, don't I?' Ianto mused. He turned to look at Jack in earnest. 'It doesn't bother you, does it?'

Jack laughed. 'Are you kidding? I love the way those Welsh vowels tumble from your lips. If you called me that all the time, and never used my name again, I wouldn't mind it one bit.'  

He truly did mean that. It made him feel as if Ianto owned him, and he loved being that close to another person. Especially Ianto.

'I suppose it's only fair that you should have a pet name for me then as well, I guess.'

'It doesn't have to be honey,' Jack replied. 'I could call you sweetheart, or sweetie.'

'Probably a bit too mushy, don't you think?'

'What about baby or babe? Babes?'

'Urgh, too valleys,' he said, pulling a face.

'Pet?'

'Definitely not. Gwen calls me that all the time and I hate it.'

That was true, Jack thought. He didn't want to share Ianto with Gwen under any circumstances.

'Beautiful, gorgeous, sexy?' Jack suggested, rattling off adjectives, giving Ianto one of those winning smiles, enjoying teasing him.

Ianto blushed. 'All with a kernel of truth, but it might make the others feel squeamish. Owen's already at the end of his tether most days. Can you imagine?'

'True,' Jack agreed, 'I'll keep those for when it's just me and you. If I can stop myself,' he added. 'What about darling?'

'Hmm,' Ianto paused, considering it for a moment. It wasn't bad. He could live with darling, perhaps.

'Darling, have you seen my red braces?' Jack asked, trying it out.

Ianto frowned. It sounded okay, but there was just something not quite right about it that he couldn't put his finger on.

'Can you try honey again?' he asked.

Jack was surprised by the question, raising his eyebrows, but quickly got over it and stepped closer to Ianto, wrapping his hands around Ianto's waist, pulling him close and dropping his voice low.

'Honey, have you seen my red braces?'

There was something in that quiet, sultry tone that made Ianto tingle all over and want to melt into the floor. Yes,  Jack had gotten it right the first time around. Honey was perfect.

He closed the narrow gap between them and kissed Jack long and slow, before finally breaking them apart.

'Have you tried looking down the side of the sofa?'