Chapter Text
Jack had been gone for about two weeks now. Little by little, both men were wearing one another thin far more than usual because of it. Maybe it was the fact that everyone seemed distraught with the random disappearance just barely after coming back from the dead. One minute he was there, the next gone like wind. Because it felt easiest, they took out their irritation with Jack on one another, spitting back handed remarks to one another under their breath.
So it was only a matter of time before Owen started yelling about something. Right now? It was the organisation of his desk, the fact that a few documents seemed to have gone missing in the process of the cleaning.
Ugh! He was always so infuriating! Ianto's fist curled as he listened to Owen yell at him about how he shouldn't be going through his things to get the notes he wanted, that he would get to it when he wasn't analysing data for Jack. But no, Ianto had to go through and organise his desk out of irritation for the mess and we all know one thing; Owen felt he found his things better in a bit of a clutter and all of the important shit was on or in his desk, which were now organised because of the mildly obsessive compulsive Welshman's irritation.
"What the hell does it matter? Ya need a bit of organisation in your life, Harper. Big deal."
Owen grabbed Ianto's lapels and pulled him close, inches away, that nasty scowl still apparent.
"Don'. Touch. My. Desk. You get all'a yer precious notes an' files at th' end of the day every bloody day. You. Can. Wait."
Ianto shoved away and scowled, bearing himself defensively. "Who left you in charge?"
"Jack did when he disappeared! You damn well know 'm second in command, an' you of all people know what that means. Cap'n Jack is gone, Teaboy, whether you like it or not an' that means 'm actin' Cap'n an' I'm in charge."
Yeah... Ianto did know that. His eyes narrowed in irritation at Owen's matter-of-factness and clenched his fists. "Yer a bloody arrogant sod," he spat, accent thick with anger, with irritation. Owen just smirked smugly and gestured his head toward the archives.
"Yer dismissed."
Oh... Oh that pissed him off. Ianto's jaw tightened and he had to actually force himself to turn on heel so he wouldn't swing.
He spent all afternoon down in the archives while Owen split off Jack's work with Gwen down in the medbay to get it done all the faster. Being curious, she looked at Owen.
"What was all tha' about this mornin'?"
Owen looked up at her from over the edges of his glasses, knowing she was talking about the altercation. What the hell did it matter? It happened. It was something Owen expected with his 'relationship' with Ianto. So he looked up at her and with a low tone, he muttered, "you heard?" She nodded and he snorted, "then why th' hell ask 'bout it? Pretty sure ya know why I was screamin'."
Her eyes narrowed and she snorted right after he did. "No, I mean th' hell has gotten int' ya, Owen? I get it, you're upset. But really? Yellin' at Ianto 'bout'cher desk organisation? We're all upset 'bout somethin', you can't jus' go 'round takin' it out on people." She looked up at him to see he was untangling his earbuds. He had such a flat look on his face, she was surprised he wasn't showing his anger more, especially after this morning. She watched him as he put one bud in and shook her head when she heard his question.
"Who asked you anyway, Cooper?"
"No one..." She watched him put the other one in and pick up his phone, plugging it in before fiddling with it to pull the music program up. He looked at her and smiled that bitter smile.
"Then do me a favour and sod off."
It was clear he didn't want to talk. As soon as he said that, he pressed play and got back to work so he didn't have to listen to her. In retaliation, she took her half of the work back to her desk and sat down to do her work by herself.
Just as promised, at the end of the day, Ianto got all the work that was finished off to file away. Owen had enough time to cool off about the altercation and while he wasn't sure Ianto had, he watched him out of the corner of his eyes as he scooped up the basket full of files that were organised by whose work it was, Jack's on top, Owen's on bottom. As soon as he was there, he was gone again to put everything away for now to put it away properly tomorrow. He noted that Owen was the only one still there when he went back up and when he asked, he was told Tosh left a little bit ago while Gwen left soon after he'd taken her files.
"What are you still doing here?"
"Workin'," the acting captain responded as he leaned back, reading his monitors instead of looking at Ianto. "Actin' cap'n means twice th' work, both mine an' his. I have shit I gotta get done."
Ianto's brow creased and he blinked before he just sighed and went to gather the few things from the core before heading to the bulkhead, stopping when he heard Owen state his name. He tensed and turned to see that Owen was away from the desk, not too far behind him honestly. His hand smoothed along a hand rail.
"Ah... 'm... Sorry 'bout this mornin'..." He didn't like that he was apologising. But he had to grow up sometime, right? Whether he liked it or not, he was probably stuck with Ianto for the long run. "I jus' haven't been sleepin' well with all th' work. Haven't been home other than t' shower an' change."
Owen didn't really do well with twice the work load. Especially considering a lot of Jack's files were things he had to look into unless they were related to medical evaluations or tracked advancements. Now that he was looking at him and not scowling, Ianto could see it. His eyes seemed darker, he had a little more of a slouch to him than he normally would. His brow creased and he let out a sigh before gesturing.
"Let's go t' the pub? You look like you could use a drink..."
"I..." He gestured over his shoulder to his desk to signify that he didn't have time and Ianto rolled his eyes.
"Okay, I was being nice about that one... Now it's not so much a suggestion, more a request... I get it, you're acting captain. But you don't need to kill yourself over it. You keep working yourself while you're like this and you're gonna end up dying from exhaustion and sleep deprivation. You of all people know that."
With what little will to actually go back to work was there, it was broken by the stone words and Owen let out a chuckle. "A'ight... I'll go... Who knows, maybe yer right?"
Both men gathered their things before stepping out. Owen had hooked the monitor up to his phone so he could watch it while he was gone and the walk to the pub was short enough, an oddly comfortable silence between the two of them.
What was a better time to get to know someone than over a couple of drinks. They asked each other questions that didn't involve Torchwood directly. Favourite movies, favourite type of woman. They sniggered as they people watched. Turns out they weren't... Too different. They still had plenty of differences, but there were still those few common grounds. The only time Ianto brought up work was when they were stumbling out the door at one in the morning, offering to help Owen with the work since he worked with all of it, to which he got a drunken nod and a, "yea... 'kay."
He was surprised to find how close to the Hub Owen actually lived, deciding that it would probably be safer at least to walk him to the estate so he was at least home as compared to stumbling drunk everywhere not home. Owen turned and both hands clapped Ianto's shoulders, causing both men to waver a little.
"... Thank ya, Ianto..." He muttered under his breath and a small little voice in the back of his head, a voice he didn't listen to, told him to jump the chance and kiss him, that he could blame it on being as drunk as he was.
"Not a problem..." A small smile and Owen swallowed before chuckling. God... So lonely, so drunk he was thinking about snogging his co-worker. But he knew better than that. His hands dropped and he offered one, to which Ianto shook it before the contact was broken.
"See ya in th' mornin'," He nodded slightly before stepping inside, "get home safe." The door clicked closed behind him and Ianto let out a heavy sigh through his nostrils as he watched Owen stagger to the lift out of the corner of his eye before he disappeared into it, deciding it was a good time to go on his way.
Maybe he'd ask again... In times of stress, your enemies can become your friends... Or even better, maybe after tonight, Owen would suck up his ego and pride and ask.
Little did he know that was exactly what Owen was planning on doing.