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Ianto awoke with a long groan, so soft it was like a sigh, with a body pulled unfathomably close to his own. Jack’s skin was golden in the early morning sun, freckles dotting over his ribs like stardust. White sheets were rumpled and creased underneath his toned frame and his face was more burrowed into Ianto’s neck than on top of the pillow - God, it was perfect. It was easy to appreciate Jack like this, Ianto thought to himself as he watched patiently for Jack’s eyes to flutter open, blue gaze unfurling like a primrose. His eyes were hazy and unfocused, but they soon settled on Ianto as Jack blindly pulled away from the soft skin of Ianto’s throat. “Good morning,” Ianto murmured, a whisper against the bedsheets, like a secret. “Morning,” Jack replied, his voice delightfully gruff with sleep. Their hands intertwined beneath the blankets, the contact tender and cherishable. “What time is it?” Ianto shifted closer, propping himself up on one elbow. “Does it matter?” His voice held a hint of desperation that Jack was too kind to comment on. His telepath’s lips curled, contorting into a smile so gentle that Jack could physically feel himself cave to Ianto’s whims before he came up with an excuse not to. “We do have jobs, you know,” he tried, but his attempt to deter Ianto was halfhearted at best, the immortal stretching up to meet Ianto’s lips prior to the end of his flimsy evasion. The kiss was needy from Ianto’s end, but still weak. It was as if he was afraid Jack was going to break. “I want to spend a morning with you,” he mumbled, lips moving slowly down to press against Jack’s chest, above his heart. His eyes were glistening when he looked up, gaze alluring. Jack couldn’t pull away. “I want to spend an entire day with you. Cherishing you,”- a kiss to Jack’s stomach, sweet and timid. Intimate without being sexual. Ianto looked up again, thumbs kneading small circles into Jack’s hipbone. “Worshipping you.” “God, Yan,” Jack gasped, pulling his bed partner up so that their lips met again, the kiss more rushed this time. Their foreheads ground together as Jack pulled away reluctantly, as if Ianto couldn’t bear not to be touching the immortal. "You’re acting as if I were the one who almost died yesterday.” “What happened to me yesterday doesn’t matter. I was already dying, Jack. I felt like I was suffocating after...after everything happened with us. John’s attempted suicide was just a finishing blow, I’d guess,” Ianto murmured, pressing wet kisses against Jack’s collarbone. It was if he were talking about the weather. “You shouldn't have cared as much,” Ianto mouthed, and Jack growled lowly all of a sudden, flipping Ianto so that his back was pressed against the mattress and Jack was looming over him. Despite the jarring sensation in his spine, Ianto still stared at Jack as if he had hung every star in the sky. “There were more important things to worry about than me. Why did you care, Jack?” “Oh, Ianto,” Jack whispered, heartbroken at the dullness in Ianto’s voice. He was a different person this morning, and Jack knew it was about the night before. Ianto had confessed to everything that he’d done the weeks he and Jack were apart, the times upon times he’d stumbled home drunk, the experience just a few days before the refugees that Ianto had considered just stopping it all. Admittedly, Ianto had been rather sleep-deprived and high on adrenaline at the time he had told Jack, so it could have been an exaggeration, but Jack was certain that it wasn’t the case. The fact Ianto had thought about ending himself because of the things Jack did to him made the captain sick to his stomach. Ianto thought Jack didn’t want him, but it was the furthest thing from the truth. “You mean the world to me, sweetheart. You are everything to me,” Jack paused to slowly cup Ianto’s cheek with his warm palm. Ianto pressed needily into the touch. “I can’t live without you. And it’s stupid that it took me so long to realise, it’s stupid that we’ve only been together for, what, six month? I should have had you in my arms a lot sooner than that, Ianto.” “Jack…” Ianto sighed in relief, stretching up to kiss Jack chastely. The other man slowly deepened the kiss, drinking the other’s reactions in, cataloging them away in case Ianto chose to be reckless once again and almost die. “Do Gifteds live longer than humans?” Jack asked suddenly as he pulled away. It seemed Ianto was already expecting the question, although his immediate answer back was to ask why Jack wanted to know. Jack smiled tenderly at his partner. “Because I don’t think I’m ever going to let you go again. I want to know how much time I have with you.” Ianto grinned, giggling slightly. “I adore you,” he murmured against Jack’s lips as he kissed his lover again, not necessarily to avoid the question... (yes, okay, perhaps to avoid the question). “Yan,” Jack warned against his warm mouth. Ianto rolled his eyes in response, grumbling slightly. “Complete transparency from now on, okay?” “Yeah,” Ianto sighed finally. “Complete transparency.” He sat up abruptly as Jack rolled away from him to lie on his side. The change startled Jack for a split second before he schooled his features into plain curiosity. Ianto breathed deeply, finding Jack’s hand in the mess of blankets and blood-hot skin. Squeezing his fingers in solidarity, Jack shifted closer so that more of Ianto’s flesh was pressed against him. “We...we tend to live the same amount of time as humans.” He hesitated. Ianto knew that Jack had said, in not as many words, that he wanted to spend as much time as possible with Ianto, but...hundreds of years? Ianto had gotten sick of himself already in his short lifetime. “Ianto?” Of course Jack would know that there was more to be shared. “You don’t have to tell me just yet.” “I want to...it’s just, it’s a lot. And some of it includes the Bond.” Jack didn’t react, staying silent and unmoving by Ianto’s side. But, he didn’t seem angry at the mention of the frayed Bond between them, and so Ianto continued somewhat timidly. First, he settled down on the bed again, which relaxed Jack enough that he felt safe to speak again. “My great-grandmother lived until she was 219. She used spells and potions and her magic was strong enough to sustain a body for a long time, but her son’s, my grandfather’s magic was so much stronger. They had a Bond, and ultimately, it was what kept my great-grandmother alive long enough to see me take my first steps into becoming a Gifted. She lived up until the point my grandfather was killed, and then she had no other life force to cling onto.” “So...you’re saying that if we, hypothetically, still had our Bond...you would, what, live for as long as me?” Jack’s nervousness was evident in the stammer in his voice. Ianto was almost scared to reply, so instead of speaking, he simply nodded. “Fuck.” “I know. It’s a lot to take in,” Ianto murmured in response, trying to comfort his immortal. “We should probably get ready. Owen will be here soon to check up on me.” “Ianto.” The seriousness in Jack’s tone made Ianto pause, legs hanging over the side of the bed and back turned to his lover. A kiss was pressed into the intimate spot on the bottom of his spine, the wet mouth following the muscle contours on his back until Jack was sitting up with him, chest pressed solidly against Ianto’s back, mouth nestled in the juncture between jaw and neck. “Ianto,” Jack repeated, voice husky and raspy in Ianto’s ear. “Our Bond...how do we get it back?” “What?!” Jack ignored Ianto’s exclamation and continued on with a small smile. “I want you for as long as I live. I know it’s selfish and if it worked you might lose the people you love as you grow older, but I just need to know how it works. I need you.” Ianto didn’t say anything for a long while, simply leaning back into Jack’s tight embrace. He couldn’t escape from the iron circle of Jack’s toned arms, but...he didn’t want to. Not ever. He wanted Jack, for as long as Jack wanted him, and probably - most definitely - for longer, unless he was dead. “You’d want to spend eternity with me?” Eternity was essentially what Ianto was offering. The Bond was all or nothing. “You don’t think it would be incredible?” Jack asked, smirking as Ianto tipped his head back onto Jack’s shoulder, allowing the other man access to the miles of pale, unmarked skin of his throat. Jack nuzzled against it, kissing gently before speaking again. “We could have years to ourselves, away from everybody else in the entire world,” Jack chuckled softly as he went on. “I could fuck you for years on end and it wouldn’t even matter because we would have all the time in the world to visit Paris or tour America, swim in the Dead Sea - the one on Jupiter, not on Earth.” Ianto laughed softly, turning his head to capture Jack’s lips with his own. “You should be a salesman or something,” he joked as they parted. Jack rolled his eyes in good nature. “Does that mean I’ve sold you on the idea?” Jack’s expression was too hopeful for Ianto to refuse - not that he ever would have anyways. But...what Jack was implying, it was a massive commitment. He told Jack as much. “Ianto, I am so prepared to give up everything to spend the rest of my probably very long life with you. I want our Bond back.” “God, we’re doing everything so backwards. We’re kinda not meant to break up and then decide to basically get Gifted-married before you meet my parents.” “We’re not exactly the most typical of couples, even for Gifteds. And I know that this isn’t a mistake, not something I could ever regret. I want this. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Ianto breathed out a shuddery breath, twisting to curl into Jack’s hug. He felt so safe there. “I want that, too, Jack.” He didn’t even need to think about it. The idea of Jack not having to lose him, of Ianto not having to hurt his beloved with his death, it was bliss. He wanted to be there for Jack, forever. “So,” Jack grinned, “how do we go about fixing this pesky Bond?” Ianto smiled, and told him.