RP for mrsharker

[quitehomoerotic]

It's early evening and in the half light the Bay has a comfortable quiet. Jack sent the team off to have a little social time. They've all worked so hard lately and they could do with it. He went for a walk, somewhere with a high roof and a vantage point for him to look over the city.

He's back on his way home now, taking a slow stroll down Lloyd George Avenue and back towards Butetown and the Bay. Outside the Millennium centre are couples and people milling around, all preparing for an evening of entertainment. It makes Jack smile as he seems them all, all safe in this city he loves so much.

On his way across the Plass he takes a slight de-tour to one of the poster boards, to take a look at just what these people are waiting to see. The sight before him though is not one he expects, and one he's far from prepared for.

The face is familiar, oh so familiar, and his breath gets caught in his chest, taking him a moment or two to realise he isn't breathing at all.

"It can't be," he whispers, but there's nobody there to listen.

Jack's eyes are swimming and he's glued to the spot. This can't be right, he's sure this can't be right. Just an odd co-incidence. Someone who happens to look similar. It has to be. It can't be her.

But it doesn't hurt to make sure. So instead of back to the Hub, Jack heads into the Millennium center and with the aid of the word 'Torchwood', he goes backstage.

Comments

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Never." He shakes his head fiercely, refusing her insinuation point blank.

"You make me feel alive again."

He feels an emotion rising in him. A desperation. Filthy desires to let his body take what it wants here and now, removing whatever minimal clothing might necessitate it. He pushes the thought away. Tries to remember this is Mina. But of course that doesn't help. It's the very fact it's her, her like this, that spurs him on in the first place.

Instead he just pulls her a little closer, his hips pressed to hers, his arousal too.

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

She can smell the desire that's pricking him surface, and if there's one thing she understands all too well --right now, especially-- it's hunger. He pulls her close and she can feel that hunger, too, in the press of his body.

"Yes," she breathes, a goad to whatever he may be thinking. Permission.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Easier said than done, he thinks, considering the multitude of layers between himself and his goal. Instead of deal with the immediate fabric, he opts for another kiss, another brief exploration of her mouth and another slight groan against her lips.

Under her skirt his hand twists against her thigh, moving north, up towards underwear, about to attempt to tackle it when...

A subtle bleeping starts and a vibration in Jack's trouser pocket. His phone. The kiss stalls and he pauses as though he's caught in the headlights. If he's getting a call then it's important and he should take it. So he pulls back a little and withdraws it from his pocket. The name flashing on the screen puts his stomach in his mouth. 'Ianto'.

He looks up at Mina, full of apology. "I've got to..."

And he answers the phone. "Ianto. Yeah?"

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

The look on his face says so very much when he pulls the phone from his pocket. She doesn't try to get the name from the screen, because his reaction tells her the only thing she needs to know: this is the mysterious lover.

"It's fine," she murmurs, and shifts off his lap. Mina rolls to her feet, smoothing her skirts down and catching his eye: I'll give you a little privacy she mouths, and heads into the adjoining bathroom.

She shuts the door behind herself, any number of conflicting emotions warring in her chest, trying to calm the maelstrom. Trying to find her dignity.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack slides himself to the end of the bed, feeling just terrible. He turns a little stern, best to deal with the situation.

On the end of the line Ianto relays information to him about a Rift spike that's appeared in Penarth. Tosh and Owen came in to take a look and just took the SUV out there. Ianto's monitoring from the Hub, Gwen's at home with Rhys. He thought Jack would want to know. A gentle way of asking where he is.

His voice is loud, and choice phrases can likely be heard through the door.

"Good well, let me know if it's anything untoward." and then, "No, not tonight. I know we did. Plans change. I'll be gone til tomorrow."

He falls silent and the call ends. He wipes a hand over his face. The worst timing and the worst situation. He stands, with a sigh and walks to the bathroom.

"Mina?" He calls through the door.

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

"If you have to go, I understand. We both have our commitments. I can't expect you... to..."

To what? She's not sure, but she's a lot less secure than before the phone had rung. A lot more contained and even her hair is neatly in place when she opens the door and emerges.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

He shakes his head, completely apologetic, and even more so for seeing her now.

"I'm not going anywhere." He reaches a hand out for her.

"I'm sorry. Just a blip down the road. It's being dealt with. I said I'm busy tonight. Okay?"

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

She hesitates before taking that hand, realising all the more vividly now that there's someone else in this little story. That it's not just a happy reunion: there's a third party involved and it's breaking her heart.

"That was her, wasn't it?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack breathes out slowly. He won't lie, he can't, not now. But he's not sure how she's going to take this.

He nods slightly and looks away for a moment before mustering a little more strength and casting his gaze back.

"No," he whispers. "No. That was him."

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

She stares at him in silence, utterly stunned. She remembers Oscar Wilde's trail for... that sort of behavior (and she remembers pitying the author that his personal matters became so terribly public). Oh, and she knows that things have changed very much in the last century --

But it's her husband.

Distantly, absurdly, it occurs to her that perhaps it's almost better that it's not another woman? That perhaps there's something different between the two men that she shouldn't feel threatened by?

She's not sure. Genuinely not sure what she makes of this at all.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack's never been one to be apologetic about his preferences. After all, he's from a time where it's normal and standard. No quaint little categorisations like they have now. But too he has lived in the past. There were times when his loose lips about his preferences got him attacked. Got him beat up and more than once got him killed. He learned, eventually, that sometimes it's better not to say. He worked back out of that again in recent years, but still he understands now how some people aren't so readily understanding.

More for Mina too. Mina who he married without a second mention at being interested in anything else. Jack was, of course, having relationships with men long before he'd ever met her. A particularly memorable five year time loop, for example. But that hardly makes a difference here.

He looks at her, and he worries. Genuinely worries about her reaction.

"Mina? Say something?"

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

"I... had no idea," she manages, finally taking the hand offered her.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

He breathes a sigh of relief that she offers her hand. A good sign that she's not just going to turn and dash. After all, she's an old fashioned woman at heart, and it's hardly the done thing.

"No... I know." He sighs and attempts a smile. "Like I said. A lot of things about me you don't know."

And at the risk of joking before the dust is settled, he goes on. "But I mean, c'mon. You really think I waited for the Doctor for a hundred years just because I like him?" He laughs. Of course he's joking there, well, mostly.

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

"Inappropriate humour will not always get you out of trouble, Jonathan Harker," she manages. It's something she remembers saying to him a lot. A phrase that could well sum up their courtship and portions of their marriage.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack looks down, looking entirely like a naughty school boy that's been caught off guard.

"Sorry." He mumbles.

He's thoughtful for a moment. Evaluating in his mind. Making a decision. And then...

"I'll show you. Torchwood. The Hub. My team, I'll introduce you to them. If you like, that is. If you want to see who they are."

It's mainly so she can feel at ease with knowing he's with a man. He wonders if her meeting him might help. Though of course, he'd not be introducing her as his wife.

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

"I'd like that," Mina agrees with a decisive sort of a nod. "It'll be nice to be a proper part of your life."

She wonders if it's similar to stories she's heard of sodomy in the Royal Navy: long time away at sea, men get lonely... If that's the case, though, why is it an issue now?

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"I'll arrange something," he nods. His face is a little more serious now though. His relaxed state from earlier gone. Worrying about the news he's just delivered, worrying about the fact there's apparently a rift spike over in Penarth, worrying about betraying a trust.

"Are you alright?" He asks, looking at her. He can see her mind ticking over, tell she's thinking, though about what he doesn't know. He can guess.

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

"I'm always fine," Mina tells him: an easy answer. Perhaps too easy. "Are you?"

He looks tired suddenly. The charming rogue gone, leaving him fretting, serious. She aches for him. For both of them, really, the recaptured ease of their long-abiding love for one another seemingly gone. The new connection of blood and fire standing in ash.

She won't turn her back on him now, after all this time, regardless of her own lack of understanding. The fear she has that perhaps she'd truly failed him as a wife. The complete uncertainty of just what does he want... Mina's not sure she has it in her to be his distant friend, aloof and untouchable like some maiden aunt.

She doesn't know what any of it means.

"We've both got a lot to digest, I suppose," she says.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

The words worry him. They're ones he's used too, and he knows all too well that they mean nothing. A cover for a true emotion.

"About the same," he responds. A little understanding he's sure will pass between them.

Jack rarely feels guilty, but he feels it now. Guilty for so many things.

"We do." He nods and looks around the room. Looks at the bed and its slightly twisted sheets. The two pairs of discarded shoes down on the floor.

"I don't know what we do now, Mina." He's honest. "I never expected this."

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

"Neither did I," she inclines her head in acknowledgment. "I didn't expect any of this."

It may look from the outside as though she's hiding her emotions. Truly, she's just deeply, deeply confused. He's turned her world upside down with joy and pain and hunger and loss and she truly doesn't know what they do now.

So, she does what she's done ever since she lost him: she rolls with the punches and gets on with the situation at hand. "Go," she says, and she's not kicking him out. He knows her well enough to know the tone, the compassion in her eyes. She clasps his hand to be sure of it.

"Go tonight to... whatever his name is. Take whatever comfort you need to help you process the situation. Come back tomorrow morning, and we'll discuss whatever happens next then. Staring at one another with pits in our stomachs will resolve nothing."

And you still smell good enough to eat.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

He knows he's not being forced out, but even so, the suggestion makes him feel sick to his stomach. The thought of leaving her is bad enough, but the thought of trying to spend time with Ianto, when all he can think of his her is just so much more.

All that's in his mind is the scent of her perfume, the softness of her skin, the way her hair drapes across her neck. No, he couldn't do that, not to himself and not to Ianto

That, and there's an almost unconscious part of him that holds out for more. Holds out for her to give in though his rational mind doesn't expect she will.

"I don't want to leave." He tells her, his voice sad.

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

"Then don't," Mina says simply. She gives his hand a squeeze, before releasing it to cross over to her trunk -- a very well taken care-of relic from their marriage -- and find her pajamas.

"Stay, but stop letting it eat at you. We can't do anything about any of this while we're both still processing."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack lets out a long sigh and nods. How is it that she's always been so able to calm him. To see him right. He feels like a different man around her.

"You're right." He nods once more. "You're right. Of course you're right."

He wipes a hand over his face and attempts a slight smile. "We can just be together for now. We'll think about it later."

[mrsharker.livejournal.com]

"Well, if there's one thing I'm certain of -- you and I are incredibly likely to have a 'later'," Mina points out, entirely sensibly.

She unbuckles the belt on her dress and unzips the garment, stepping out of it and her petticoat in one motion. It's efficient, the way she's undressing, not coquettish in any way. After setting them down, she perches on the end of the bed to unclasp her suspenders.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

A brief laugh escapes Jack's lips and he smiles. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that."

He paces a little, not sure where to go or where to stand. So amusingly awkward for Jack Harkness. In the end he finds himself leaning against the edge of the dresser, slightly to the side as she undresses.

He watches, and he can't help a blush rising in his cheeks. After all he's already been somewhat sparked tonight, and it doesn't take a lot more to reignite that. He tries not to though, and shifts a little where he stands, attempting to flicker his eyes away. But even then, even in the utter mundane and necessary way she moves, it's alluring to him.

He finds himself biting his lip, just to keep himself together.