Ficlet: Man Of Mystery

[bk_forever]

Title: Man Of Mystery

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: Jack, Ianto, Owen, Tosh

Rating: G

Word Count: 300

Spoilers: Mostly small ones for everything up to, and including, Cyberwoman. Set pre-series.

Summary: Jack muses on the mystery that is Ianto Jones

Written For: Challenge #91: Puzzles at fan_flashworks

Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.

A/N: I’ve written a drabble and a double drabble for other challenges, so here’s a triple drabble. Such a pity that doesn’t count towards earning a badge.

Ianto Jones was a conundrum. With his perfectly tailored suits and polite, even deferential manners, on the surface he appeared almost subservient, the ever obedient employee. He willingly and efficiently carried out all the menial jobs he was handed, fetching and carrying for the team without a word of complaint, often providing them with what they needed before they even thought to ask.

When he was present, he blended into the background so as to go almost unnoticed unless he was needed; absent, it was a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’, no one knowing or caring where he might go when he wasn’t making himself useful. It was as if he deliberately sought to be as invisible as he could possibly be.

And yet, he had qualities that simply didn’t fit with the role he inhabited within Torchwood. For one thing, he was blessed with a razor sharp wit that was more than a match for Owen’s scathing comments; nothing the medic threw at him seemed to ruffle his perfectly groomed exterior, but his deadpan comebacks often left Owen floundering for an equally effective retort. Perhaps even more importantly, he proved to be highly intelligent, able to keep up with Tosh’s detailed technical explanations almost as well as Jack could. Watching him from across the Hub, Jack frowned, deep in thought. Something about the young man didn’t add up.

Why would a man with such a brilliant mind allow himself to be turned into a general dogsbody, overworked, under-appreciated, and treated with disdain by his colleagues when they deigned to notice him at all?

Evidently there was a lot more to Ianto Jones than he was letting on; he was a perplexing mystery and Jack was determined to unravel the puzzle he presented, once and for all.

The End