Fandom: Torchwood

Charcters: Jack, Ianto

Author: m_findlow

Rating: PG

Length: 1,570 words

Content notes: none

Author notes: Written for Challenge 212 - Ice

Summary: Jack finds himself stuck with two left feet



Jack looked at the Plass with no small amount of trepidation. Even the spirit of Christmas was doing nothing to ease the churning in his stomach as he watched the mass of people sweeping around in easy circles. Ianto had been nagging him for weeks about going ice-skating on the man-made rink that the council had set up in the middle of the Plass. It was making use of their invisible lift a bit of a nuisance, but otherwise it was very festive and very popular.

Ianto disappeared from his side at some point whilst he was still watching the skaters gliding around in the brisk winter sunshine.

'Come on, Jack,' Ianto called out, holding up a pair of skates.

'Think I'll just watch. You go ahead.'

'Don't be silly,' Ianto said, walking up to him and thrusting the skates in his direction. 'They've got ones big enough even for your feet.' He sat down and began fixing his own in place, setting his shoes inside a carry bag and gesturing Jack to do the same.

Ice. Did he really have to do this? Ice was just so unnatural. He didn't mind the cold wintry Welsh weather, and snow was one of his favourite things, but walking on ice was just not right. He didn't realise he'd stopped doing anything until Ianto was knelt down helping to tie his skates on for him.

'I really think this is a bad idea,' Jack said.

'Says the man who would run headlong into a fray with three weevils.'

He huffed. 'That's different.'

'It is,' Ianto agreed. 'You can't die ice skating.'

Jack groaned. His boyfriend the comedian.

'Come on,' Ianto said, standing up and reaching down a hand. Jack stood with relative ease. For some reason it was actually quite easy to keep balance on skates on terra firma, which was at odds with the idea that the only thing keeping him upright were two thin blades.

Ianto stepped through the small opening onto the rink and let Jack follow. The minute his skates hit the ice, he went wobbly, quickly gripping the handrail to keep him upright. Ianto turned to face him, gliding around in a tight circle as easily as if there was nothing slippery at all underneath his feet.

'You okay?'

'No,' came the blunt reply.

'Well, you can't stay there all day. Just push off. You'll be fine.'

Fine. Not likely, Jack thought, frowning at his lover. Against his better judgment, he let go, trying to use his arms as leverage to get him moving. It was a bad plan since all he did was launch his top half forwards, whilst his lower half remained a foot behind him. Had it not been for the arms that caught his front half, he'd have been face planted into the ice before he knew what happened.

'Don't tell me we've finally found something the great Captain Jack Harkness isn't brilliant at,' Ianto said, helping keep him upright.

'You're enjoying this aren't you?' Jack sulked.

'More than you could possibly know.'

With some difficulty, Ianto managed to lead Jack out to the middle of the rink, out of the way of the stream of other skaters all winding around and around. 'If you're not too sure on your feet, you're safer out here,' he said. Jack didn't agree. At least before he'd been within reach of the edge of the rink. Out here there was nothing to hang on to.

Ianto grabbed his hands and tried to coax him slowly forward. 'Don't overthink it, Jack,' he said.

'Easy for you to say,' he grumbled, annoyed at the fact Ianto was not only upright, but moving backwards with the grace of a ballet dancer.

'How did you get so good at this?'

'We used to go skating every winter,' Ianto replied. 'There was this lake up in the valleys that freezes over every year. Dad would drive us up there and we'd skate for hours until our legs were too sore to even walk back to the car.'

'Sounds nice.' Ianto almost never shared memories about his childhood.

'It was.' He wondered if maybe they should have driven up there and gone skating. It would have been peaceful and secluded, only the locals knowing about the lake, and even less of them that used it for ice-skating. That required a proper day off though, and all they could manage with the rift was an hour or two. They could extend that by virtue of being so close to the hub. Time together was precious so they took what they could get.

Jack wobbled some more, still unsteady on his new feet. He felt like a foal, all legs and no balance, trying to learn to walk for the first time. His arms flailed, trying to keep balance and Ianto let go of them before Jack windmilled them wildly enough to topple them both, grabbing his firmly around the waist instead. Jack grabbed at him for all he was worth.

'This wasn't just some ploy to get some special time, was it?' Jack asked, trying to force the joke out, though he was struggling to see the funny side.

'Just a happy coincidence,' Ianto replied. 'It's not often I have you falling into my arms.'

'Hmph.'

'Wanna try that again?' Ianto asked, slowly letting his arms slip from their grip around Jack, even though Jack was still clinging firmly to him.

'Not really,' Jack said. Moving seemed like a bad plan, and hugging Ianto was far more appealing.

'Come on. It's actually less likely you'll fall if you try and move yourself rather than have me drag you along.'

Jack didn't agree, but he put his trust in Ianto all the same, trying to awkwardly shuffle along.

'Turn your foot outwards and push,' Ianto instructed. Jack tried it, finding himself propelled forwards by the action.

'Good, now the other foot,' Ianto said, taking him by the hands, gliding backwards at the same speed with practised skill. Jack pushed with the left foot, moving another few feet along.

'Keep your weight slightly forward so you don't fall backwards, and your knees slightly bent.'

'Hey, I think I've got it,' Jack said, pushing off again, skipping across the ice. He took a few more stokes before the speed caught up with him and suddenly his forward momentum was more than he could control. He crashed into Ianto first, then spilled them both onto the ice, landing on top of his lover with a considerable thud.

'Sorry,' he said. 'Are you hurt?'

Ianto just laughed. 'I'm okay. What about you?'

'I think my ego is broken.'

Ianto laughed again. 'It's not ice skating if you don't stack every now and then. Fancy getting up and trying it again?' Ianto helped him back to his jittery feet and they managed a few more short trips until Jack had done two complete circuits of the rink without falling over.

'Not bad for a beginner,' Ianto said, enjoying the feel of Jack's hand firmly wrapped up in his own.

'All the same, I think I'll retire whilst I still have all my bones in tact.'

'But we only just got here.'

'You stay,' Jack insisted. 'I'll be over here,' he said pointing to where some of the families of the skaters were sat, watching and taking photos with their phones.

'If you're sure.'

'I'm sure. I'm definitely much more of a beach person.'

Jack made his way to the edge, gratefully feeling solid ground beneath him once more, leaning down to remove the skates and replace them with his ever faithful boots.

He was much happier sitting on the sidelines watching Ianto glide around in circles. He was much faster without Jack holding him up, zipping across the ice like a pro, adding a little spin here and there. Fast or slow, he never once looked unsteady on his feet. It was much more like dancing than skating, all fluid movement and grace, even though Ianto claimed he didn't dance. It made Jack slightly jealous, the way he made it look so simple.

There was an almost childish delight in his expression though, that Jack found utterly endearing. Jack knew that look well. He got the same buzz from flying; feeling so completely free and unrestrained, like the rest of the world dropped away and there was just him and the wild blue yonder, breeze rippling through his hair. He supposed skating was the next closest thing to feeling like flying. Perhaps he should try to learn to skate better so they could do it together. For now though, it was enough to see Ianto so happy.

Ianto's face was flushed red by the time he finally rejoined Jack, swapping his own skates back for his shoes and slumping down to sit next to him.

'You look out of breath,' Jack said.

'A little. I haven't skated that much for years.'

'Looked like you were having fun.'

'Yeah,' he replied, not sure if he was supposed to be proud of that fact.

'Maybe we could come back again and you could teach me how to skate better?' Jack asked.

'Really?'

'Can't have you being better at something than me. I do have a reputation to maintain.'

'Imagine the horror. And here was me thinking you just wanted another excuse to hold my hand in public.'

'That's just a happy coincidence.'