![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
And now I blather about Jack/Ianto, but I put it behind a cut.
I think the reason I find myself so drawn to the pairing, before and now, is pretty simple. Jack needs Ianto far more than Ianto needs Jack, and they both think it's the other way around (though I think Jack is possibly catching a clue that this is the case).
Thing is, and it's one of the things I love best about Ianto, is that he's remarkably self-contained. I don't just mean self-sufficient (though he's that too). He just, okay, he makes decisions, he goes through his emotional emo, he gets shit done quietly and efficiently, and he does all of that pretty much without needing any outside input at all. This is bad if you're hiding your cybergirlfriend in the basement, yeah. But it also always left me with the impression that Ianto just doesn't need other people in the same way Jack does. He's very much a caretaker, in that I think he does need to have people to do for or a cause to commit to, and he'll devote his resources to that to the point of near insanity (cyber. girlfriend.), but I think as long as he has that in some form...he's fine. Jack goes away? Okay, he's got the rest of the team. Torchwood goes away? He'd find something. And the majority of the pain of losing those things would be processed internally...I mean, he was efficiently cleaning and caretaking without any outward indication when he was going through the biggest internal emo fest of gnawing rats. Therapists probably hate him. Point is, what Ianto generally needs is for people to let him take care of them, things to do. And he does it in such a way that I think it's very easy on the other end to miss just how much he is doing for you. He's certainly not going to tell you. And he's going to be okay without you, because he's still got that self-contained world inside his head, even if that world sometimes resembles bartending in the dark. I bet he was the kid in the corner with a book who would just look confused when his mum tried to get him to play with other kids.
So there's Jack. Jack does need people to be actively interested in and focused on him, and though he can be repressed about stuff and big on denial about his past or whatever, that's exactly what it is...repression and denial. Jack would be lost without someone to play off of outside his own head. He craves it. Take it away and he spends a year in chains thinking about it, wanting it, needing to get back to it. But I also think that to a certain extent he expects it. Because he's Jack and he is shiny, and charming, and awesomely loveable, and of course people will respond to him that way. And I think especially last season it left him rather unaware of just how much he was being held up by Ianto (and the rest of his team) because of course they were just there. Which is how you get to him emoing about 'being all alone' or 'having no one' when they were standing right there. There were times when Jack reminded me of that Spamalot bit where King Arthur is singing about being all alone, while his manservant is hauling his stuff and doing shit for him and standing there going "No you're not, I'm right HERE you prat." (and I swear if someone makes a S1 TW Jack/Ianto vid to that song I will love you forever). How would it be if it wasn't just there anymore? I think Jack had to face that a bit when he ran away from it, and it wasn't pretty. Hence his making an active effort to reach out for it this season.
I guess...sort of what I'm saying, is that Ianto walking away from Jack has far more consequences for Jack than it does for Ianto. And that it feels like Jack is starting to realize that is mashing my buttons liek woah. If Ianto realizes he has the upper hand here as well...I might melt into a big puddle of squee. Because there's all sorts of power dynamics going on here that are....well, hawt. And they shift depending on who thinks they've got the power and who actually does. And whatever way they shift, the pieces just kind of fit. Because what a big part of what Jack needs is what Ianto gives by nature (and I say part because it's Jack, who is also kind of built for multiple partners).
Oh, and also they are freaking adorable together and make a very pretty picture when there is lip action. Because I'm shallow. Most of the above is me with PMS rambling about things I will likely change my mind on or will be proven wrong (or have already been proven wrong because I'm remembering stuff incorrectly). Feel free to point and laugh, or to bookmark for later pointing and laughing when some scene contradicts everything I've just said...I will be pointing and laughing with you). See? This is why we can enjoy pairings that might be canon, but we do not ship them. Theorizing is a lot more fun when the canon truck can't jump out and hit you.
I think the reason I find myself so drawn to the pairing, before and now, is pretty simple. Jack needs Ianto far more than Ianto needs Jack, and they both think it's the other way around (though I think Jack is possibly catching a clue that this is the case).
Thing is, and it's one of the things I love best about Ianto, is that he's remarkably self-contained. I don't just mean self-sufficient (though he's that too). He just, okay, he makes decisions, he goes through his emotional emo, he gets shit done quietly and efficiently, and he does all of that pretty much without needing any outside input at all. This is bad if you're hiding your cybergirlfriend in the basement, yeah. But it also always left me with the impression that Ianto just doesn't need other people in the same way Jack does. He's very much a caretaker, in that I think he does need to have people to do for or a cause to commit to, and he'll devote his resources to that to the point of near insanity (cyber. girlfriend.), but I think as long as he has that in some form...he's fine. Jack goes away? Okay, he's got the rest of the team. Torchwood goes away? He'd find something. And the majority of the pain of losing those things would be processed internally...I mean, he was efficiently cleaning and caretaking without any outward indication when he was going through the biggest internal emo fest of gnawing rats. Therapists probably hate him. Point is, what Ianto generally needs is for people to let him take care of them, things to do. And he does it in such a way that I think it's very easy on the other end to miss just how much he is doing for you. He's certainly not going to tell you. And he's going to be okay without you, because he's still got that self-contained world inside his head, even if that world sometimes resembles bartending in the dark. I bet he was the kid in the corner with a book who would just look confused when his mum tried to get him to play with other kids.
So there's Jack. Jack does need people to be actively interested in and focused on him, and though he can be repressed about stuff and big on denial about his past or whatever, that's exactly what it is...repression and denial. Jack would be lost without someone to play off of outside his own head. He craves it. Take it away and he spends a year in chains thinking about it, wanting it, needing to get back to it. But I also think that to a certain extent he expects it. Because he's Jack and he is shiny, and charming, and awesomely loveable, and of course people will respond to him that way. And I think especially last season it left him rather unaware of just how much he was being held up by Ianto (and the rest of his team) because of course they were just there. Which is how you get to him emoing about 'being all alone' or 'having no one' when they were standing right there. There were times when Jack reminded me of that Spamalot bit where King Arthur is singing about being all alone, while his manservant is hauling his stuff and doing shit for him and standing there going "No you're not, I'm right HERE you prat." (and I swear if someone makes a S1 TW Jack/Ianto vid to that song I will love you forever). How would it be if it wasn't just there anymore? I think Jack had to face that a bit when he ran away from it, and it wasn't pretty. Hence his making an active effort to reach out for it this season.
I guess...sort of what I'm saying, is that Ianto walking away from Jack has far more consequences for Jack than it does for Ianto. And that it feels like Jack is starting to realize that is mashing my buttons liek woah. If Ianto realizes he has the upper hand here as well...I might melt into a big puddle of squee. Because there's all sorts of power dynamics going on here that are....well, hawt. And they shift depending on who thinks they've got the power and who actually does. And whatever way they shift, the pieces just kind of fit. Because what a big part of what Jack needs is what Ianto gives by nature (and I say part because it's Jack, who is also kind of built for multiple partners).
Oh, and also they are freaking adorable together and make a very pretty picture when there is lip action. Because I'm shallow. Most of the above is me with PMS rambling about things I will likely change my mind on or will be proven wrong (or have already been proven wrong because I'm remembering stuff incorrectly). Feel free to point and laugh, or to bookmark for later pointing and laughing when some scene contradicts everything I've just said...I will be pointing and laughing with you). See? This is why we can enjoy pairings that might be canon, but we do not ship them. Theorizing is a lot more fun when the canon truck can't jump out and hit you.