Ficlet: Bad Decisions
Apr. 7th, 2025 05:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badly_knittedTitle: Bad Decisions
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Ianto, Jack.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 702
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: This isn’t the first time Jack’s impulsiveness has caused problems for Ianto, but this time Jack is having an unpleasant time as well, and it’s all his own fault.
Written For:
topaz_eyes’s prompt ‘Any, any, tiny and wired’, at ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
threesentenceficathon.Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
Days like this, Ianto had to seriously wonder whether common sense was something that had died out by the fifty-first century, or perhaps genetic engineering combined with interbreeding with certain biologically compatible alien races had somehow replaced it with a pronounced lack of caution. Honestly, if Jack was typical of fifty-first century humanity, aside from the whole immortality thing, it was a miracle the species hadn’t wiped themselves out through sheer stupidity.
At present, Ianto’s lover was practically bouncing off the walls, or at least off the sides of the solid wooden crate Ianto had put him in for safekeeping. Despite Jack’s objections, Ianto had considered the incarceration a necessity, because at two inches tall, Jack was liable to kill himself, either by falling off something, or by getting stepped on, and there was no way of knowing if he could come back from being flattened by the sole of someone’s shoe. It certainly wouldn’t be a pleasant experience for him.
Not that he seemed to be enjoying his captivity either. Ianto had provided him with as many home comforts as he could, even if the bed was a new dish sponge, with a couple of cotton wool balls as pillows, covered with a clean handkerchief, and a crocheted granny square for a blanket. Jack hadn’t even bothered to test it for comfort; he was too busy making his displeasure known in a high-pitched but surprisingly loud voice.
“You can complain as much as you want, but this is your own fault,” Ianto pointed out, peering into the crate where his diminutive lover was stomping about in a temper. “Thanks to all the coffee you drank before accidentally shrinking yourself, the caffeine is concentrated into a much smaller body mass, and I doubt eating a whole packet of chocolate Hobnobs helped either. So now you’re dealing with a sugar rush and a caffeine high at the same time; it’s no wonder you’re wired, maybe you should try to sleep it off.”
Jack shouted something unintelligible, glaring up at Ianto and stamping his tiny foot, then kicked at the wall of the crate. That was another mistake, because it was a very solid crate, and kicking it obviously hurt, judging by the way Jack was hopping around, clutching at his abused foot. He was probably swearing in every language he knew, but Ianto was unmoved.
“Like I said before, you only have yourself to blame, Jack. No one forced you to mess around with an unidentified piece of tech. You should just be grateful you stopped shrinking before you vanished completely.” And wouldn’t that have been fun, Jack shrinking himself out of existence? What would the team have done if that had happened? Chances were, they wouldn’t even have known. Jack would simply have vanished from the Hub, which was not without precedent. He could have ended up smaller than an atom, which wasn’t a pleasant thought at all. Being two inches tall had to be better than that possibility.
Hobbling over to the makeshift bed in his temporary quarters, Jack flopped down on it and pulled a tiny boot off to inspect an even tinier foot.
“Still in one piece?” Ianto enquired. After all, he wasn’t happy that Jack had hurt himself, even if it had been the result of his own reckless behaviour.
Putting his boot back on, Jack nodded and gave Ianto a thumbs up.
“Good. Now perhaps you’ll think twice before kicking things. Try to rest. There’s really not much else you can do while Tosh is working on reversing what you’ve done to yourself.
Jack pouted, clearly already bored, and Ianto sighed. How was he supposed to keep a two-inch-tall Jack entertained? The usual methods were obviously out of the question…
“Fine, you can use my smartphone to browse ebay, just try not to leave boot prints all over the screen.” Turning it on, Ianto set it on the floor for Jack, who beamed up at him and scampered over to see what interesting things he could find. At least it might keep him quiet for a bit. All Ianto could do was hope that Tosh would restore Jack to regular size before he bought anything too outrageous.
The End
At present, Ianto’s lover was practically bouncing off the walls, or at least off the sides of the solid wooden crate Ianto had put him in for safekeeping. Despite Jack’s objections, Ianto had considered the incarceration a necessity, because at two inches tall, Jack was liable to kill himself, either by falling off something, or by getting stepped on, and there was no way of knowing if he could come back from being flattened by the sole of someone’s shoe. It certainly wouldn’t be a pleasant experience for him.
Not that he seemed to be enjoying his captivity either. Ianto had provided him with as many home comforts as he could, even if the bed was a new dish sponge, with a couple of cotton wool balls as pillows, covered with a clean handkerchief, and a crocheted granny square for a blanket. Jack hadn’t even bothered to test it for comfort; he was too busy making his displeasure known in a high-pitched but surprisingly loud voice.
“You can complain as much as you want, but this is your own fault,” Ianto pointed out, peering into the crate where his diminutive lover was stomping about in a temper. “Thanks to all the coffee you drank before accidentally shrinking yourself, the caffeine is concentrated into a much smaller body mass, and I doubt eating a whole packet of chocolate Hobnobs helped either. So now you’re dealing with a sugar rush and a caffeine high at the same time; it’s no wonder you’re wired, maybe you should try to sleep it off.”
Jack shouted something unintelligible, glaring up at Ianto and stamping his tiny foot, then kicked at the wall of the crate. That was another mistake, because it was a very solid crate, and kicking it obviously hurt, judging by the way Jack was hopping around, clutching at his abused foot. He was probably swearing in every language he knew, but Ianto was unmoved.
“Like I said before, you only have yourself to blame, Jack. No one forced you to mess around with an unidentified piece of tech. You should just be grateful you stopped shrinking before you vanished completely.” And wouldn’t that have been fun, Jack shrinking himself out of existence? What would the team have done if that had happened? Chances were, they wouldn’t even have known. Jack would simply have vanished from the Hub, which was not without precedent. He could have ended up smaller than an atom, which wasn’t a pleasant thought at all. Being two inches tall had to be better than that possibility.
Hobbling over to the makeshift bed in his temporary quarters, Jack flopped down on it and pulled a tiny boot off to inspect an even tinier foot.
“Still in one piece?” Ianto enquired. After all, he wasn’t happy that Jack had hurt himself, even if it had been the result of his own reckless behaviour.
Putting his boot back on, Jack nodded and gave Ianto a thumbs up.
“Good. Now perhaps you’ll think twice before kicking things. Try to rest. There’s really not much else you can do while Tosh is working on reversing what you’ve done to yourself.
Jack pouted, clearly already bored, and Ianto sighed. How was he supposed to keep a two-inch-tall Jack entertained? The usual methods were obviously out of the question…
“Fine, you can use my smartphone to browse ebay, just try not to leave boot prints all over the screen.” Turning it on, Ianto set it on the floor for Jack, who beamed up at him and scampered over to see what interesting things he could find. At least it might keep him quiet for a bit. All Ianto could do was hope that Tosh would restore Jack to regular size before he bought anything too outrageous.
The End
