Fandom: Torchwood

Characters: Jack, Ianto

Author: m_findlow

Rating: PG

Length: 1,245 words

Content notes: none

Author notes: Written for Challenge 231- Amnesty & Challenge 8 - Genre

Summary: Date night is fraught with indecision.

'I can't believe they cancelled our reservation,' Jack complained, stomping along the street, forcing Ianto to walk faster to keep up with his long purposeful strides.

'To be fair, we did turn up three hours late,' he replied, slipping his glove back on his hand. It was still warm, having been removed only ten minutes ago when they'd first stepped inside the delightfully warm restaurant.

'They still could have served us,' Jack continued. 'It wasn't like the place was full.'

'I think it was more the fact that they were trying to wind up for the night. Having to wait until midnight to serve dessert to their last two patrons was probably a little unfair.'

Another date night ruined by the rift, Jack thought. They hadn't even made it out of the hub since early this morning when they'd first headed out to pick up the device that had fallen through the rift. No sooner had they gotten it back to the hub than it stared setting off all kinds of alarms on Tosh's systems, before beginning to emit strange signals that caused anything within twenty feet to start levitating off the ground.

It wasn't nearly as much fun as he'd thought, getting too close on a number of occasions, and ending up whacking his head on bits of the hub's overhead gangways, before finally drifting too far away and being dumped unceremoniously back to earth. They were both still sporting bruises that he'd been looking forward to having kissed better later.

Tosh had finally figured out a way to create a countermeasure, cannibalising another alien device and re-purposing it to nullify the effects of the anti-gravitational field. It had taken another hour after that to put back everything that had floated away, and to sweep up the remnants of objects that had been broken in their descent back to terra firma. By then it was past nine, and even later by the time they'd parked the car in town and made their way to the restaurant.

Jack sighed loudly, slowing his pace as some of his frustration began to ebb. 'So, now what? It's half nine and no restaurant will serve us. S'pose we go home?'

'I can't lay claim to there being a lot in the pantry, but I could probably rustle up tinned soup and cheese toasties,' Ianto offered.

'How romantic,' Jack replied, frustration turning to sulking.

'Jubilee will still be open, assuming we still want pizza after having had it for lunch. And dinner last night.' He paused. 'And the night before that, come to think of it.'

Jack chuckled, wrapping an coated arm around Ianto's waist, pulling him close. 'So much for trying to do something different tonight, hey?'

'Or,' Ianto said, casting his eye further down the street, 'it's not too late for a movie. Granted popcorn and the self serve candy bar aren't exactly haute cuisine, but...'

'I could do with having my mind taken off things,' Jack admitted.

Ianto checked his watch. 'The last session will have started at nine thirty, but there's always at least twenty minutes of ads and previews beforehand. We'd still make it in time for the main feature.'

They increased their pace towards the brightly lit cinema doors, on a mission to get there in time.

'Okay,' Jack said, 'you get the tickets whilst I get the food.' He was about to speed off towards the colorful assortment of lollies and chocolates when Ianto grabbed his sleeve.

'Wait, what do we want to see?'

'Anything,' Jack said, trying to rush off again before stopping. 'Except romantic comedy. We're never doing that again.'

'I thought you liked it?' Ianto said, remembering the last time they'd made it through a full movie without interruption, albeit in the comfort of their own home.

'Puhlease,' Jack groaned. 'If I have to sit through another two hours of some bumbling doe-eyed Hugh Grant lookalike punching well above his weight, I may have to break up with you.'

'Let's hope it won't come to that,' Ianto replied, making a mental note. It had seemed innocent enough a choice at the time and Jack hadn't complained.

Ianto looked up at the board, trying to put movie titles to synopses, or using posters on the walls as a guide. Three of three five appeared to fall into that category. The fourth, which looked like some kind of political drama, had started at nine so they'd have missed the first twenty minutes. The last option was titled The Spirits, a horror movie if he recalled correctly.

'So, that leaves us with horror,' he said disdainfully. 'Perhaps we should just go home.' He was pretty open minded, but as a genre, horror was not appealing at all.

'What's wrong with that?' Jack asked, sensing Ianto's reluctance.

'Horror movies are all trashy and rubbish.'

Jack laughed. 'Ianto, you don't go to see a horror movie because it's good. You go to have the hell scared out of you. That's the whole point of a horror movie.'

Ianto held his look of disapproval. 'If I want the hell scared out of me I'll go just go hunt down a weevil armed with nothing more than a little can of spray in my hand. Or give Owen free rights to keep his experiments in the fridge.' He wasn't sure which was scarier, near certain death by mauling, or uncovering something green and furry having taken over their kitchen. He really didn't need anything else in his life to scare him. There was plenty enough of that already.

'Don't you want to be frightened and have your brave heroic lover there to cling to?' Jack said, gripping Ianto tightly. He shrugged off Jack's theatrics, albeit reluctantly.

'I do like being referred to as brave and heroic,' he teased.

Jack scowled, pulling away. 'I meant me.'

Ianto gave him a skeptical look. 'So, what you're saying is that you want me to watch something scary so that you can be there to rescue me?'

'Rescue is a strong word,' Jack replied. 'I was thinking I'd be more of a comforting presence.' He was under no allusions that Ianto couldn't be brave and fearless, but the whole concept of horror movies was to make sudden noises or changes of camera angle such that it took you completely by surprise. An axe wielding zombie suddenly appearing right there on screen was going to make even the hardiest Torchwood agent jump out of his skin.

'Then perhaps we should skip the film,' Ianto suggested. 'You can comfort me perfectly well at home in bed.'

That he could. 'What about date night?'

Ianto shrugged his shoulders at Jack. 'It's what we make it, isn't it?'

Jack could hardly deny that the suggestion they go straight back home and enjoy some time together between the sheets was a bad idea. If anything, it was a lot better than than some silly movie, and better still than an argument about what kind of movie might suit them both. Apparently their tastes weren't quite as compatible as the rest of them. 'Okay,' Jack said. 'Just one question, though.'

'What's that ?'

'Can we still buy the lollies and popcorn and take them home with us? I'm starving and a cheese toastie just isn't going to swing it for me. Plus, I'm going to need a lot of energy.'

'Well, we can't have that,' Ianto replied. 'A starving Jack is scarier than anything on film.'