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Title: On the hunt
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 900 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 185 - Mending
Summary: Jack and Ianto are on the hunt, but looking for different things.

'How many am I looking for?' Jack asked, idly picking up a file and staring underneath it.

'Eight,' Ianto replied, feeling his knee click as he knelt down to check under the desk. There  was sure there be at least two or three having scuttled their way down here.

'Can just say I think this is a stupid rule?' Jack said, poking aside a keyboard, lacking any enthusiasm for the task.

'You would,' Ianto muttered. 'It's your fault we're here in the first place,' he said, before spying one of the missing objects and tucking it inside his pocket whilst he continued his search.

'All I'm saying is that I will happily buy you a new one. Several in fact. We'll make a day of it. Just you and me and the high street, watching you dress and undress all day long. Ah ha! Got one,' he said, holding it up triumphantly.

Ianto rolled his eyes. 'There's always a bright side with you, isn't there? And for the record, I happen to really like that shirt, which I'm sure you won't disagree with. I'd rather not have to throw it out because you couldn't contain yourself.'

And he meant that, finding another button with its shiny little silver edges, admiring it. It was a bit dressier than most of his attire, which was usually destined to be destroyed within a matter of weeks, but sometimes he couldn't help but treat himself to something nice. He felt good wearing it, and he knew Jack appreciated the look as well.

Jack reached under the desk, running his fingers through Ianto's hair. 'I didn't hear you complaining last night. I seem to recall you uttering the words "too many clothes", over and over again. Hoping to relieve you of them is what I do best.'

'Yeah, but I was rather hoping your very talented fingers might do that job neatly, without my having to spend half of the following day mending them.'

'Perhaps I need more practice,' Jack purred, massaging the back of Ianto's neck whilst he was still crouched under the desk.

Or perhaps Jack needed to not be so damn irresistible, Ianto thought, enjoying the feeling of those fingers again. There'd been plenty of nights when he'd done the same, knowing full well he was creating more work for himself the next day, but not caring, just so long as he could get access to that gorgeous flesh right this instant. There'd be time to reconsider his priorities on the morrow when he was knee deep in needles and cotton  thread.

Eventually Jack's hand ceased its motions and he begrudgingly went back to searching when it became clear he couldn't coax Ianto up from the task at hand. Ianto was secretly grateful, knowing he was just minutes away from giving up altogether. He swept a hand under the narrow space between the filing cabinet and the floor, feeling something brush his hand.

'Hey, I've been looking for that,' he said, winning himself a cufflink that he was certain had disappeared. 'And here's another one of your buttons,' Ianto said, spying the familiar shape.

They continued searching the immediate area, turning over paperwork, upending cushions, hands drifting across the concrete and steel floors, snaffling several more small round objects.

'Okay,' Ianto said, standing up and brushing off his pants. 'Have we got them all?'

They both added their collections together on the desk, counting them out.

'Seven. Dammit. Still missing one. We'll have to keep looking.'

'Ianto, come on, surely we can live without one button.' If Jack could have his way, there wouldn't be any buttons, or shirts for that matter.

'So what am I supposed to do with the missing button?'

Jack chuckled. 'Well, I'm not saying you leave a gap right in the middle,' he shrugged, 'just don't replace the last one at the bottom. Personally I've never seen the point in having buttons go that low, anyway. They only get in the way of all the important stuff.'

He thought of all the times he'd unzipped Ianto in a moment of haste, only to find that offending last button siting between him and what he wanted, like a sadistic gatekeeper. Perhaps he should accidentally "lose" the last button on all of Ianto's shirts. Then a thought occurred to him.

'I don't seem to remember us having to do this when you rip my shirt off,' Jack said, considering his young lover, and folding his arms.

'That's because A, most of your shirts are destroyed beyond repair before they reach that point, and B, because yours are all the same, replacing any missing buttons is easy.'

Jack raised an eyebrow in a very Ianto-like manner. 'You gonna tell me you've got a secret stash of spare buttons somewhere?'

'Amazing what you can buy off Ali Baba, and they specialise in wholesale quantities,' Ianto grinned, visualising the large container of buttons tucked away in his desk drawer.

'So...' Jack began slowly, closing the gap between them, 'with so many spare buttons, I suppose you won't be needing these ones,' he said, placing Ianto's hands on his chest, right next to the seam.

'Spose not,' he replied, feeling his breath hitch at Jack's proximity, fingering the closest button. He did have a lot of buttons, and whatever Jack had planned wasn't going to require any of them. Not for the moment, anyway.