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At six years old, Ianto Jones had his first in-depth school lesson about soulmates. He learned that the name of your soulmate appeared on your skin sometime in your teenage years and he couldn't wait for the name of the girl he would end up marrying to appear on his skin.
At thirteen years old, Ianto Jones was starting to become worried about his Name. Specifically, the gender that was going to be associated with it. He'd never really thought about men in that way. Well, that is, he never thought about men in that way previously. Until he decided to have yet another James Bond-athon and some part of his mind went, "he's hot" in a completely not "I want to be him" way. He knew what his parents thought of men who liked other men and needless to say this new development in Ianto's life caused some considerable stress. And a lot of James Bond.
At fifteen years old, Ianto Jones was hopeful that his Name would appear soon. Sure, most people got their name by their fourteenth birthday but he was just a late bloomer. He knew that he wouldn't be one of the few soulmate-less he'd read about. He knew his Name would appear. Any day now.
Until then, he dated others who hadn't yet received their Names or purposely disregarded them. None of those relationships really lasted long but it was to be expected and didn't leave him heartbroken. He would receive his Name soon and it would be a womans. Because Ianto Jones was completely, wholly, undoubtedly straight.
At sixteen years old, Ianto Jones finally got his Name and he knew it was a mistake. His soulmate couldn't really be named "Javic Thane."
'Javic could be a girls name,' he thought to himself futility, even after looking into the history of the name and learning that it is most definitely not a girls name. There had been cases of soulmates just being good mates. That was probably it. That was definitely it. Because Ianto Jones was as straight as they come, even if his eyes did linger on some of the men he passed in his day to day life. Platonic staring. Admiring in a completely non-sexual, non-romantic way.
He raided his sisters makeup supply to steal concealer to cover his Name. Along with it being a man's name, it was also placed inconveniently on his collarbone. It was easy to conceal while he had his school uniform on (the collared shirt helped keep his collarbone away from prying eyes nicely) but was a right pain without. He knew what the others would say if they saw his name, especially his parents and he couldn't allow that to happen. Ever.
At seventeen years old, Ianto Jones told people that he didn't have a Name. It was easier to let them think that he didn't have one than to let them know he carried a man in his heart.
At twenty years old, it became part of Ianto's daily routine to cover his Name with concealer. If he couldn't see it, it didn't exist.
At twenty-two years old, Ianto Jones got a job at Torchwood One, met Lisa Hallett, and fell in love with her. 'This is the woman whose name should be marking my skin,' he thought to himself after their first date and every date after.
She had a Name that was most definitely not Ianto's but she'd lost all hope of meeting him, especially with her job. Ianto loved and trusted her and so he opened up for the first time about his own soulmate. She was the first person he ever showed his mark to. She didn't think that it was shameful that Javic was a man's name. She just traced her fingers lightly over the mark and told him it sounded beautiful and that he shouldn't be ashamed of who he loved. He'd pulled her closer and told her that he loved her and she was happy to reciprocate.
A little while later, she proposed he go to dinner with her, her best mate Shannon, and Shannon's girlfriend. It was a lovely evening. Lisa made him feel more comfortable with his attraction, something he'd never thought was possible. He wasn't ready to go parading or waving a flag but he was getting used to the idea of being attracted to men. He knew it didn't matter, he was going to spend his life with Lisa as long as she wanted to, Javic Thane be damned.
At twenty-two years old, Ianto Jones became all too familiar with heartbreak. Lisa's death burned, left him shattered along with the life he'd made for himself in London. The future that he could never have and it was all taken away by the bloody cybermen, her body half converted. There was still a tiny bit of her left though, he thought to himself hopefully. She was never going to be human again if he didn't try.
So Ianto Jones did the only thing he could think of doing, the one thing he vowed never to do.
Ianto Jones went back home.
At twenty-three years old, Ianto Jones was completely, wholly, undoubtedly not straight. At first he was only trying to stroke Jack Harkness' giant ego for a job at Torchwood Three but after they caught the pterodactyl and Ianto ended up on top of Jack, face so close he could kiss him (he had to hold himself back from doing just that) and he had to admit it. He was into men same as he was women. It was something he'd only ever felt comfortable sharing with Lisa and even then it was hard for him to accept even with her constant encouragement. The secret he'd been holding back for years, the Name he'd rejected because he knew it belonged to a man, and it all came out (ha) because of an unfairly gorgeous egotistical man with unfairly captivating blue eyes and an air of mystery that he was trying to get a job from. Fantastic. Jack fucking Harkness, ladies and gentlemen.
He got the job because Ianto is fantastic at whatever he sets his mind to. He went to work in a suit and his most charming smile everyday. He would be lying if he said the suits weren't slightly for Jack's benefit but he knew he had to keep his eyes on the task at hand and that was getting Lisa back. They would be together again, he was sure of it.
But then the team found out about Lisa and she'd tried to kill them all and Jack's disappointment in him cut deeper than he thought it would, more than the rest of the teams. He was dismissed. And then he came back. He hated Jack, hated how he'd killed his girlfriend and then killed Tosh's without any remorse and he hated him but he couldn't help but want to grow closer to him, to have a bigger role on the team. He didn't understand it, how he could hate with all his being yet yearn to be nearer to him all the same. He became a regular at his local pub which he knew was not a good coping mechanism but it was the only way he could think of to make himself feel better. Trying to kill himself didn't help, he hadn't been able to go through with it the first time and the subsequent times wouldn't have had good enough reasons so he kept drinking. And then one day Jack arrived at his local and they figured out that Mandy, the barmaid, the woman Ianto had thought of as a friend, was helping an alien capture people to use as slaves and they put a stop to it but not before Ianto almost let Jack die on an alien world.
Then he got Jack back and he couldn't help the rush of emotions. He kissed Jack. And Jack kissed him back.
They slept together. 'Just one time' turned to two, which turned to three, which continued on until they couldn't pretend they were just each others shag buddies anymore, especially after Jack took on Abaddon by himself and Ianto had thought he'd lost him forever.
He knew that they weren't soulmates. Even though he knew Jack Harkness was not his boss' real name, Jack had seen Ianto naked enough times to see the Name written on his collarbone and he never said anything. Subsequently, the mark Jack carried was in a different language. "My native tongue, the language of the Boeshane peninsula," he'd told the team once when they asked about it. It was a rather obvious mark just above his heart and it was strikingly beautiful. The lettering was both simple and elegant and Ianto couldn't understand why he was so drawn to it but it was one of his favorite parts of Jack's body to kiss. He felt a sort of connection to the mark that he couldn't explain even though he was sure whoever's name was written there was not his own.
He was sure they weren't soulmates. But that didn't mean it hurt any less when Jack left.
At twenty-three years old, Ianto Jones slowly but surely felt himself grow fonder and fonder of his boss, even with his overly flirty nature and the fact he'd left without saying goodbye or telling anyone where he was going. Ianto Jones was alone and (dammit, he had it to admit to himself sometime) in love again, left without a proper goodbye for the second time in a year.
At twenty-three years old, Ianto Jones resigned himself to a soulmate-less life.
At twenty-four years old, Ianto Jones found his soulmate.
They'd played along with John Harts little game, almost got themselves killed over it, almost blew up Cardiff because of it. And at the end of it all they let him go. But Hart couldn't stop himself from making one last remark.
"Oh, and Javic, I forgot to tell you-I found Gray."
And then he left, turning both Jack and Ianto's worlds on their heads.
"'Javic?' What did he mean, 'Javic?' And who's Gray?" Gwen sounded concerned.
Jack looked more nervous than ever before, still staring at the spot Hart disappeared from. "Javic Piotr Thane. It's...it's my..." Jack gave a resigned sigh. "It's my birth name."
Ianto could barely hear what was happening. His heart started to beat rapidly and he became short of breath, legs collapsing underneath him and falling to his knees. Faintly he could hear Tosh asking him what was wrong and Owen trying to see if he was injured in some way but Ianto couldn't focus on either of them. All he could focus on was the fact that Jack's birth name was written on his collarbone. His boss' name, the name of the man he'd fancied since he'd first seen him, the name that kept him confused and scared for his whole life, was The Name he'd been stressing over since he'd first received his mark at sixteen. All this time and his soulmate had been right there not saying anything, always so close but not close enough and he didn't understand why Jack never said anything or why the first he ever learned of Jack's real name was through bloody John Hart.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Ianto didn't realize how loud he'd spoken until Tosh startled back from him. "All this time you knew and- why didn't you say anything? Did you not..." His voice cut off at the end.
Jack knelt down in front of Ianto, grabbing his hands that were firmly clasped in his lap. "I didn't think you'd want to know. When we first started you'd been so down about Lisa, I didn't think telling you then would be proper. But then I couldn't find a way to bring it up and as time started to pass it was too late to seamlessly say, 'hey so we're soulmates but if you just want to shag with no feelings we can do that. Also sorry for not telling you earlier but I didn't know how you'd react and now you're probably angry at me again, I know, but-'" Ianto cut off Jack's tirade with a searing kiss. Jack could feel the tears from Ianto's eyes but he knew from the way Ianto was holding him, kissing him, that they were tears of joy. After twenty-four years of thinking he would never find his soulmate, Ianto finally did. When they broke apart, Jack kept talking.
"I always wanted you, Ianto. Don't think differently for even a second."
They kissed again, more passionately than ever before because they knew this was forever.
They went back to Ianto's apartment and revelled being near each other again, being able to touch, to hear, to see the other. After being apart for so long, they were finally together again.
At twenty-four years old, Ianto Jones found and married Javic Thane, who on their marriage certificate is listed as Jack Harkness, and he couldn't be happier.