Ianto Jones found Mr and Mrs Jones absolutely fascinating people.
His father didn’t approve. He muttered things about crazy aging hippies and nutters and freaks. He told Ianto and Rhiannon to stay away from them. But Ianto knew that he wasn’t going to. Mr and Mrs Jones were just too cool, not like anyone else he’d ever met. At the time, he thought he’d never met anyone else like them at all.
They never seemed to mind him going over there after school. Mrs Jones especially. Only he wasn’t allowed to call her that, right from the start.
“Call me Jo!” she told him. “Mrs Jones makes me sound so old!”
Ianto thought she was the most wonderful woman he’d ever seen. She had a big mouth that was always smiling and big, sparkly eyes. Her hair was mostly gold but there were strands of grey that she was always pulling on and moaning about how she should just dye her hair and pretend she was about ten years younger. If Mr Jones was around when she said that, he would start arguing with her about how hair dye was unnecessary vanity and a waste of resources. They were often fighting about things. It was kind of like Ianto’s parents except that Ianto never felt unsafe with Mr and Mrs Jones. They always made up at the end, usually before it ever got too serious. Ianto found it really rather sweet.
Their house was full of interesting things. Ianto was always asking about them and Jo always seemed to have a story about everything he ever looked at. Some of the stories Ianto thought were real, others he wasn’t so sure about. Jo told him that some of these objects – strange as they were – came from other worlds, other times. She quite casually mentioned journeying through time and space as though it was something anyone might have done. When Ianto asked her if she was making fun of him, she looked a little hurt at the idea, as though he was accusing her of lying. But she never stopped telling him the stories. And Ianto slowly realised that he really did almost believe them. When Jo said things … he believed them. Maybe it was because she was Jo.
She was his first big teenage crush. He’d spent embarrassing hours thinking about her hair and her eyes and that mouth and the occasional glimpses he’d got her very long legs and cleavage. She was older than him, much older but he didn’t care. He was young and she was wonderful and as far as he was concerned, she was the love of his life. And she knew all about the world (and quite a lot about what lay beyond it!) If he was going to marry someone, he thought it would be someone like her.
Of course, his father would have hated that. His father was furious when he found out Ianto was spending so much time at the Joneses when he’d been ordered not to. He told Ianto that he was never to go again, that he was to forget everything those mad hippies had said. He went round to their house too. Ianto was forced to watch from the car as his father shouted and Jo looked more and more sad. When his father finally turned away, Jo gave him a last wave and a small smile. Ianto couldn’t return it. But he remembered it. He remembered it all his life.
He remembered the stories too. He never forgot a single story Jo had told him about the aliens. And after he got a job in Torchwood One, he was pleased to find out that everything she’d ever said was true.
Although sometimes, somehow, it wasn’t quite as fun as she’d made it sound.
- - -
Requests: Adric/Luke Rattigan (from The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky), Mike Yates/Three, Mike Yates/Delgado!Master
Ianto Jones/Jo Grant
His father didn’t approve. He muttered things about crazy aging hippies and nutters and freaks. He told Ianto and Rhiannon to stay away from them. But Ianto knew that he wasn’t going to. Mr and Mrs Jones were just too cool, not like anyone else he’d ever met. At the time, he thought he’d never met anyone else like them at all.
They never seemed to mind him going over there after school. Mrs Jones especially. Only he wasn’t allowed to call her that, right from the start.
“Call me Jo!” she told him. “Mrs Jones makes me sound so old!”
Ianto thought she was the most wonderful woman he’d ever seen. She had a big mouth that was always smiling and big, sparkly eyes. Her hair was mostly gold but there were strands of grey that she was always pulling on and moaning about how she should just dye her hair and pretend she was about ten years younger. If Mr Jones was around when she said that, he would start arguing with her about how hair dye was unnecessary vanity and a waste of resources. They were often fighting about things. It was kind of like Ianto’s parents except that Ianto never felt unsafe with Mr and Mrs Jones. They always made up at the end, usually before it ever got too serious. Ianto found it really rather sweet.
Their house was full of interesting things. Ianto was always asking about them and Jo always seemed to have a story about everything he ever looked at. Some of the stories Ianto thought were real, others he wasn’t so sure about. Jo told him that some of these objects – strange as they were – came from other worlds, other times. She quite casually mentioned journeying through time and space as though it was something anyone might have done. When Ianto asked her if she was making fun of him, she looked a little hurt at the idea, as though he was accusing her of lying. But she never stopped telling him the stories. And Ianto slowly realised that he really did almost believe them. When Jo said things … he believed them. Maybe it was because she was Jo.
She was his first big teenage crush. He’d spent embarrassing hours thinking about her hair and her eyes and that mouth and the occasional glimpses he’d got her very long legs and cleavage. She was older than him, much older but he didn’t care. He was young and she was wonderful and as far as he was concerned, she was the love of his life. And she knew all about the world (and quite a lot about what lay beyond it!) If he was going to marry someone, he thought it would be someone like her.
Of course, his father would have hated that. His father was furious when he found out Ianto was spending so much time at the Joneses when he’d been ordered not to. He told Ianto that he was never to go again, that he was to forget everything those mad hippies had said. He went round to their house too. Ianto was forced to watch from the car as his father shouted and Jo looked more and more sad. When his father finally turned away, Jo gave him a last wave and a small smile. Ianto couldn’t return it. But he remembered it. He remembered it all his life.
He remembered the stories too. He never forgot a single story Jo had told him about the aliens. And after he got a job in Torchwood One, he was pleased to find out that everything she’d ever said was true.
Although sometimes, somehow, it wasn’t quite as fun as she’d made it sound.
- - -
Requests: Adric/Luke Rattigan (from The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky), Mike Yates/Three, Mike Yates/Delgado!Master