A new friend for Ianto (chapter 2 of 8)

Title: A new friend for Ianto
Author: nikki_b1 
Beta: A brittish friend of mine who is not on LJ.
Rating: NC-17 (nothing explicit in this chapter but it will come later...)
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Ianto/Gabe (my OG)
Summary: This takes place in the time between season 1 and 2 when Jack is gone off with the doctor. 
Disclaimer: I´m taking the liberty to play in the world of Torchwood even though it belongs to RTD and BBC
I love to get some comments so please drop me a line or two. Hope you will enjoy it.

Chapter two 

Ianto had kept his word and called the next day. Gabe had sounded happy when they talked. He said he felt a lot better and that he’d had a long talk with his boyfriend. Well, his ex as it turned out. They had made a mutual decision to end the relationship. Ianto was surprised to find himself feeling glad about that. He thought about the kiss that they had shared the day before and something in him really wanted to have another one of those, and maybe more than that. He didn’t feel like he was obliged to any kind of fidelity towards Jack. He was the one who just left without a word and hadn’t been heard from since. That was almost two months ago now. He tried to make his voice sound casual when he suggested they’d go grab a beer on Friday. Gabe thought it was a great idea and Ianto could hear that he was smiling when he said it.

When they had hung up Ianto stood and went over it all in his head once more. It was something about the positions that was different and new to him. He was the older man here. He was the one who had asked the other one out. This newfound self-awareness made him feel strangely invigorated and empowered.

A couple of days went by. It had been business as usual. Nothing big. A couple of weevils and a bunch of strange metal objects that had fallen through the rift. Other than that the team had mostly worked at their various pet-projects.

When Friday came and the rift seemed silent Gwen had offered to be on call and send the rest of them home. Ianto sent Gabe a text message:

“Still up for a beer?” the reply came within seconds.

“Sure! When and where?” Ianto suggested a pub that was just a couple of blocks from his flat and he had to admit to himself that he had ulterior motives for doing so.

He hurried home, got out of his suit and took a quick shower and a shave. After that he spent almost half an hour fixing his hair so that it would look like he had done absolutely nothing with it. It was a tricky thing.

Gabe hadn’t seen him in a suit and didn’t seem like the type that would be too impressed with that either, so he went for a more casual jeans/T-shirt and leather jacket look. Before he left he took a look around the place and moved some things around to make it seem more lived in. Lately he had often been the one on call and spent the nights at the hub. Whenever he did go home it was only to sleep and not much else. One last check in the hallway mirror. He had to admit he wasn’t a total ogre, in fact he thought he looked rather good so he smiled at himself and suddenly realised that his stomach was full of butterflies. He hadn’t felt this excited about anything since Jack left. Did this mean he was getting over him? He didn’t know. All he knew was this. Here and now. He took a deep breath and then headed out the door.

He wasn’t late. And yet Gabe was already waiting. The young man had taken a seat in the corner. Ianto almost gasped at how different he looked, so far from the puffy-eyed sad boy he’d met outside the hub the other day. He was wearing dark red shirt, with a vintage waistcoat and black jeans. The curly dark hair had been pulled back into a ponytail and his face was luminous. When their eyes met across the room he stood up and smiled from ear to ear.

“Ianto” he said. “So good to see you again. I can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to this.” He threw his arms around Ianto who didn’t mind one bit and hugged him back. To anyone else it looked like two dear old friends had just been reunited after not having seen each other for years.

They sat down and a waitress came around and got Ianto´s order. Gabe had already started on a pint. Ianto could see that the young man was nervous. He started telling a story about something that he’d seen on the way and he began rambling. Ianto couldn’t follow and finally put his hand on top of his, leaned forward and whispered:

“Calm down. Take a breath.” And then they both did so, followed by a laugh. He benefited from it himself too. The butterflies in his stomach had only settled down a little bit.

“I’m sorry” said Gabe “I’m just…you’re so…oh god…I can’t make sentences!” They laughed again and Ianto felt quite flattered by it all.

“Gabe!” he said “It’s fine. Everything is just fine!” His hand was still resting on top of Gabe´s when the waitress came but then he withdrew it and grabbed the glass instead.

“How about we start by saying cheers?”

It turned out to be a good start. Gabe calmed down enough for them to carry on a normal conversation. They talked about everything and nothing. Gabe had a wonderful sense of humour and Ianto was rather witty himself. They laughed and had a couple more beers. There was an unspoken flirtation going on and Ianto could clearly see the lust in Gabe´s face whenever their eyes met. He could feel the desire rise in himself as well. Time flew by and then there was that awkward pause that always comes. Ianto was searching his brain for something to say but couldn’t come up with anything. He wanted so badly to get close to this young man, but he didn’t know how to make the first move. `It’s always that brick wall you have to push through´ he thought. He remembered exactly how it had been pushed through with Jack. That very first move that changed everything between them. He cursed himself for letting Jack pop into his mind so often. He had no right to be there. Ianto forced himself to kick him out of there. This moment had now lasted long enough for both men to feel the tension and then Gabe took a deep breath and said:

“How did you do that Ianto?”

“How did I do what?”

“Make me fall for you so fast?” Ianto was taken by surprise and let out a short and slightly embarrassed laughter. However he regained his composure pretty fast. His new role as “the older man” had given him a confidence he hadn’t had before.

“Simple.” he said “I just smiled. Nobody can resist my smile.” He felt like he was stepping into Jack’s shoes and he kind of liked it. Gabe got something almost misty in his eyes when he looked at him. With that Ianto felt the ice had been thoroughly broken and without hesitation he put his hand on the young man’s thigh under the table.

“You know…I live pretty close to here. Wanna continue this in a more private setting?” This time it was Gabe´s turn to be taken by surprise. He blushed like a little schoolgirl which Ianto found almost irresistible. He wanted to kiss him so bad but this wasn’t a gay bar and even though he had sort of taken on Jacks role he still wasn’t that cocky. Yet. He squeezed his thigh and let his hand slowly move upwards. When he was just inches away from the groin Gabe suddenly gasped and stood up.

“Yeah! Let’s go.”

To be continued…