milliways_bar | (no subject)

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The Bar has an uncanny ability to sense when Ianto comes into Milliways to brood: she always asks him to bartend on those days. He supposes this is a good thing: it keeps him from dwelling too much in his own head.

There's nothing wrong with playing to his own strengths, too.

TODAY'S SPECIALS
COFFEE
Vermont Coffee
Gunline Coffee
Newfoundland Coffee

He takes off his jacket and tie, and rolls up his sleeves.

Ninja!barista!teaboy on duty.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Lorne tilts his head. "How do you mean?"

Ianto's typist got a bit lost in the syntax.

"I mean, I think pretending to be jealous would be as bad as pretending to be in love, if you're not. You should just feel what you feel, and cop it it."

"Maybe," Lorne says, frowning. "But I mean...only if what you want is for him to actually feel jealous, as opposed to just having the effects of jealousy."

He pauses. "Which...I'm guessing is the case here."

"I . . . don't think I want him to feel jealous. I don't think." He frowns at himself.

Lorne shrugs. "Nothing wrong with that, if it's the case. It's...nice to know someone feels that way about you. Not to an extreme, of course. I mean, you don't want them questioning your every move and always suspecting you, but...if they're jealous, at least you know they care."

"You think so?" Ianto says, still frowning. "Don't you think someone acting loving and passionate towards you is enough?"

"Well, sure," Lorne says. "But isn't part of being loving and passionate getting upset when the person you're loving and passionate about is loving and passionate about someone else?"

He shakes his head. "I mean...I'd hate to think if I started sleeping with someone else, Jack would just take it in stride."

"I don't think that's jealousy, mate," Ianto says. "I think that's a relationship that's over.

"It's different for Jack and me. We're not . . ." A lot of things. "Like that."

"Okay, not sleeping with, then. Kissing...touching too much...getting too close. Something like that."

He gives Ianto a concerned look. "Like what?"

"He's not my boyfriend."

Lorne leans back and gives Ianto an 'O RLY?' sort of look.

"Ah. Well...that makes a difference, doesn't it? In that case...yeah, you got no reason to want him jealous."

"Yeah." The part of the bar that he's been polishing is getting quite a buffing.

"I mean, with a man like Jack, it's silly to get jealous and it's silly to want him to get jealous. It's like a tiger changing its stripes."

"Easy," Lorne says, reaching out a hand to stop Ianto's buffing. "You'll give her rug burn like that."

He frowns. "Look, I don't know Jack, but...it seems to me like asking yourself not to get jealous or not to want him to be jealous is doing just the same thing but worse. It's changing yourself to try and be the sort of person who could work for Jack."

Ianto stops his hand and sighs. "I just want to be with him. I don't want it to be . . . complicated."

[ooc: Sorry for the delay: neighbor came over.]

Lorne laughs sympathetically. "Hate to break it to you, man, but it's complicated already."

[ooc: No worries.]

Ianto rolls his eyes but mutters, "Yeah. I know."

"Goes along with being human, I figure. Relationships are messy, complicated. The real question is, is it worth it?"

Ianto blushes and nods. "Oh, yes."

Lorne smiles gently. "Well, then...I guess you just have to deal with the complications, or find ways around them."

"Yeah." Ianto's quiet a moment. "And if you want to know the truth, I think he's trying to be, you know, a one-man guy. I don't ask, but he says stuff sometimes that make me think, maybe."

"Good," Lorne says, nodding. "Then it sounds like you two are moving toward something that will work for both of you."

"I hope so," Ianto says quietly.

Lorne hesitates. "You know," he says carefully, "sooner or later you're going to have to trust someone not to hurt you. Intentionally or not."

Ianto smiles tightly. "I'm working on it. Honest."

"Harder than it sounds, I know."