The Perfect Nap

[dani_the_girl]

Title: The Perfect Nap
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Owen, team
Rating: Gen, fluff.
Summary: Owen doesn't need to sleep any more and he rather misses it.
Notes: Written for the twdw_ficathon, my happy prompt being the perfect nap. No idea why my brain decided Owen was the right vehicle for this but I think it works OK. YMMV, of course, and it's quite sappy. Beta-ed by steerpikesister - thanks!

---

You wouldn't have thought it really, but missing out on the little day to day things gets more annoying than the big stuff, after a while. I suppose it's not like I was getting some every day, or had time to go out and get pissed that often but most days I'd find time of an afternoon to sneak a little shut-eye. And it's not like I can't actually shut my eyes, I suppose, but that's hardly the best bit.

So here I am, sitting at my workstation, watching Gwen, who has propped her head in her hand and is catching forty winks towards the end of a busy afternoon and am I taking the opportunity to look down her top? No. Am I calling to mind any of the truly excellent blow-jobs she gave me back in the day? No. I'm thinking about how much I miss doing that. Just dozing off for a bit and then waking up and realising no-one's noticed you and feeling that little bit more refreshed for the rest of the day.

And okay; maybe it's become a bit of an obsession, but I've got to have something to do with my time now I've got so much of it, so I save my actual work to do when there's no-one around. I need the distraction during the day and make the most of the time while I've actually got people around to add a few finishing touches.

Gwen's easy, sap that she is. All you have to do is get close enough to her workstation without actually waking her up and then you just minimize all the crap she keeps open on her computer until the picture of her and Rhys on their honeymoon she uses as a background is completely visible. When she finally opens her eyes and spots it, she gets this kind of un-focused look and this tiny smile. Works every time.

Tosh is kind of tricky and I end up having to do some not strictly kosher poking around to figure out what works for her. Usually when she does doze off during the day, which isn't that often to begin with, she wakes up and looks all flustered and guilty as if her having 5 minutes kip is somehow going to make the next end of the world her fault. Some people are definitely too work-a-holic for their own good. If I could get into her account, I could turn off some of her beepy stuff so her computer doesn't wake her up demanding her attention but this being Tosh, that's not an option.

So I do the careful observation thing for a bit. Her most likely time to nap turns out to be when she's waiting for some translation analysis or whatever she's spent the last two hours frantically coding to actually complete its run. Actually, the times she looks brightest are when she wakes up again and it's on 95 percent complete - nearly there but she hasn't wasted any time while the results were already waiting for her (seriously, I need to teach that girl how to waste some time at some point, but that's a project for another day). I can't quite manage that, but I do find some nifty stuff online which lets me contribute the juice from my computer to help her computer. Which means mine hasn't got enough left in it to play GTA but there's usually enough me to trawl the internet for new and amusing ways to rickroll the tea-boy, which is nearly as good.

It's actually Gwen that clues me in on an easier way to get that little smile out of her though because she starts sending emails around the whole office of cats. Cute's never been my thing, Jack was a bit mystified by them (asked her if she thought they were something we should be investigating!) and Ianto just complained about the grammar so after a slightly fraught exchange of emails wherein she tried to claim that this sort of crap was good for team bonding, she stopped sending them to the rest of us but Tosh actually liked them. No accounting for tastes. Still, I suppose there's precious little nice in this life (hah!) if that is your thing. And of course Gwen's account is a piece of piss (password: rhysthepiece) so when it looks like Tosh's code isn't going to be done by the time she surfaces, I just log in and send her another cat - there's always plenty of samples in Gwen's browser history.

Jack never naps as far as I can see. Jack broods which is considerably less effective as a way of bringing a little relaxation into your life, I would have thought. I guess maybe everyone who doesn't get to die has to forgo the simple pleasures for some reason.

For a long while, I think Ianto doesn't nap either. He's certainly enough of a compulsive not to do it while there's still work to be done. Still, he probably deserves some peace, considering he has to put up with Jack a hell of a lot more than the rest of us, so I keep my eyes peeled. It's not until Tosh makes a comment about him taking a long time to dig up some notes from the archives about her latest gizmo that I figure it out and re-tune the CCTV. Sure enough, there he is sitting on the floor leaning against one of the cabinets with his eyes shut. Knew he couldn't be perfect.

It takes me a while to come up with a finishing touch for him that'll work. After all, I can't exactly put a picture of his lover-boy up in the archives (not exactly subtle) and I don't know how to work the damn coffee machine so I can't provide him with a cuppa. Alphabetise something, maybe? Next time he dozes off I notice that the stuff he was filing has all slipped down onto the floor next to him in a heap and I decide there are worse fates than doing a bit of filing, surely? And after all, I'm quite curious to see what the tea-boy looks like when he's actually happy or relaxed. So I check nobody's paying attention and slip down there. It takes me a few minutes to find him - these rows of cabinets all look alike over the CCTV - but when I do he's still well away. Away with the fairies - hah! I crouch down and start to gather up the various reports he was in the process of dealing with when I hear a throat clearing. Shit! I think, but he's not woken up. I look up and there stands Jack, coffee mug in hand, glaring at me. My office, now, he mouths at me and reaches over to deposit the coffee mug on the floor where Ianto will see it when he wakes up, but isn't likely to knock it over beforehand. It's Ianto's mug, in fact. So that's how it is, I think, quirking an eyebrow. I straighten up the files and move off, quietly as I came.

Jack follows me out and we march up to his office in silence. Once we're in, he closes the door (bad sign) and goes around to sit behind his desk. He looks like he's waiting for me to say something but I know how to play that game. I keep my mouth shut. "Owen," he says, finally. "Find something else to do. Ianto's got enough to do without fixing the filing system after you've wrecked it."

"Hey," I protest, all injured innocence, "I was just lending a hand."

"As you've been so eager to do in the past," Jack retorts. "Nice try, Owen."

"Yeah, well, I've got a lot more time on my hands now," I say and Jack's eyes soften.

"Even so. Find something else to occupy yourself," he tells me. I consider trying to explain but that's likely to get embarrassing all around so I just leave it. After all, this way, all I need to do to improve Ianto's shut-eye is clue Jack in any time he drops off, I reason as I head back to my own desk to watch the CCTV of him waking up. Perfect. I look around the office, wondering what to do with myself now and notice Tosh staring at her screen typing furiously while she stifles a yawn. Time to go cat hunting again.

Comments

[pinkfairy727.livejournal.com]

AWWWWW!

[dani_the_girl]

Thank you :)

[piss-and-ink.livejournal.com]

That is so damn cute, with Owen being so bored that all he las left to do is be NICE TO PEOPLE. And I really like Jack getting defensive and protective over Ianto, territorial, almost.

[dani_the_girl]

Thanks! And yeah, Jack wants to look after Ianto himself :)

[soarwiththewind.livejournal.com]

I have naught to say.
But; ♥

[dani_the_girl]

Thanks! Glad it worked :)

[aelfgyfu_mead]

Death really does improve Owen, doesn't it?

as if her having 5 minutes kip is somehow going to make the next end of the world her fault
"the next end of the world"--I love it!

[dani_the_girl]

They do seem to happen along with alarming regularity :) I was really surprised by how much more I liked Owen after he'd died - I guess there's less testosterone, or something?

[fanbot.livejournal.com]

Sweet!
Thanks.

[dani_the_girl]

Thank you - glad you liked it!

[singswithmicoff.livejournal.com]

Very sweet little story, I like that Owen tries to make the others happy

[dani_the_girl]

Thank you.

[blackbird-song.livejournal.com]

This is a lovely, believable little gem of a fic. You've nailed Owen's softer, sappy side without compromising on his snarkiness at all, and kept everyone completely in character. Great Owen voice, and lovely, subtle touch with Jack/Ianto. And speaking of (un)subtlety, I snerked quite loudly at Owen not-quite-contemplating putting up a picture of Jack in the archives.

All that said, my favourite part of this piece is Owen thinking about Tosh. It's so poignant in both its pathos and its humour ("seriously, I need to teach that girl how to waste some time at some point, but that's a project for another day" ROFL!), and it makes me miss both of them so much.

Thank you so much for posting this. :)

Catherine

[dani_the_girl]

Yeah, I didn't really think that it would come out with so much Owen\Tosh but actually it's ended up as a nice undercurrent. Thanks!

[torn-eledhwen.livejournal.com]

That was great!

[dani_the_girl]

Thank you :)

[katestamps.livejournal.com]

Oh this is Owen at his adorkable best. Snarky enough to cover but still somehow sweet. When he died he seemed to let go of so much of his snarky defensive cover and I really enjoyed him all the more for it. This captures that phase. And the idea that Jack watches for Ianto to drift off and then bring him coffee is just...charming. Nice to see someone other than Ianto taking care of the team.

[dani_the_girl]

I think of Jack as being really quite a protective person so I can just imagine him doing that. Thanks for commenting :)

[pinkalarmclock.livejournal.com]

Very sweet :)
I have a little place in my heart for nice!owen, right next to geeky!owen :)

Em xXx

[dani_the_girl]

Thank you! I think it's kind of bizarre that I like dead!Owen more than alive!Owen - and I wish we'd seen more of geeky!Owen :)

[pinkalarmclock.livejournal.com]

Haha compleatly the same :P
Geeky!Owen needs a comeback.....or at the very least, shitloads of ff about him!

Em xXx

[ningengirai.livejournal.com]

It's Owen, so it's an automatic win in my book, but you'd lent a great deal more depth to this otherwise pretty abbrasive character we've seen on the show. Plus, you really got his post-death voice down pat. :)

[dani_the_girl]

Thank you! I found it really tricky to find the voice so it's great to know that it worked.

[larielromeniel.livejournal.com]

Awww. I like this side of Owen...being nice but being very careful to not get CAUGHT at it.

[dani_the_girl]

Yeah, cause that would ruin his rep :) Thanks very much!

[mde-absinthium.livejournal.com]

for no discernable reason, i found the idea of Owen repeatedly rickrolling Ianto absolutely hilarious

[dani_the_girl]

It's just the sort of thing I see as appealing to his sense of humour :) Glad you enjoyed the story :)

[starfirefic.livejournal.com]

Wonderful, wonderful Owen voice here - this is a great read.

Thanks for posting it!

[dani_the_girl]

Thanks very much for the feedback! I found it tricky to get the voice right so it's great to know it worked.