Just Imagine...

Double Birthday

{Author's Note; this fic is in honour of Sam and Ianto's (and my!) birthday. Since it's kinda become a holiday in this fandom lmao - how awesome is it that my birthday is literally the same day as Ianto's???? I'm screaming!!! Anyway, happy birthday to Ianto Jones, Sam Ryder, and myself!}

Ianto had never been a fan of his birthdays. It had started with the food fight among the parents at his eighth birthday party, and gone downhill since then. What was even the point of birthdays? It just meant he was one year closer to his inevitable death (which would undoubtedly come sooner working at Torchwood). Why would he celebrate that?
"Hey." Sam murmured, jolting Ianto from his thoughts. He'd realized he'd been staring off while he was supposed to be picking up trash.
"Morning Sam." He said curtly.
"Why the long face?" Sam laughed, "you okay?"
"I'm fine." Ianto answered.
"You sure?" Sam pressed, looking genuinely concerned. Ianto sighed deeply.
"Today's my birthday." He hissed quietly. Sam's eyes widened and grinned ear to ear.
"Shut up!" She exclaimed, ecstatic.
"Don't make a big deal out of it!" Ianto pleaded, "what are you making that face for?!"
"It's my birthday too!" Sam squeaked, then cleared her throat, embarrassed by how high her voice had gone.
"Wait, really?" Ianto asked.
"Yes! August nineteenth, 1978."
"Mine's 1983."
"Ha! I'm EXACTLY... one, two, three, f... FIVE YEARS OLDER THAN YOU!"
"You had to count to find the difference between 1978 and 1983?"
"Shut up, math isn't my strong suit!"
"Could've fooled me."
Sam made a mock-angry expression and Ianto snickered, letting out a tiny shriek when Sam's arms wrapped around his waist and she started tickling him.
"Stop!" He exclaimed, laughing and pushing her hands away.
"We gotta do something together today!" Sam murmured, putting her arm around his shoulders and squeezing him close.
"I don't know," Ianto said uncertainly, "I'm kinda busy today-"
"Pfft," Sam scoffed dismissively, "save it for tomorrow. Today's OUR birthday and we should spend it having fun together!"
Ianto slouched slightly and Sam's excited expression became creased with worry.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"I don't actually..." Ianto began, "enjoy my birthday that much. Something always goes wrong. I've just decided there's no point. But you go ahead and have fun. I'll just keep busy here."
He gently wiggled out from under her arm and walked away from her, hands in his pockets.
"But, Ianto!" Sam called after him, sounding pained and reaching her arm out towards him, "it... won't be any fun without you."
But Ianto wasn't listening.

That was last August. This year, as his and Sam's birthday rolled around, Ianto noticed Sam starting to act strange. And as soon as Gwen's birthday was over, the whole team seemed to become shifty.
On the morning of his birthday, Ianto awoke to the sound of his phone ringing. Jack, who had been cuddled next to him, reached across to his bedside table to answer it for him (an annoying habit that he'd gotten much too comfortable doing for Ianto's liking).
"Hello?" Jack asked groggily. He listened for a moment, then beamed. "It's for you." He murmured, handing the phone to Ianto.
Ianto frowned worriedly, but took it anyway. Who was this? His sister Rhiannon? Was she going to ask who that other man's voice belonged to?
"Who is it?" Ianto asked nervously, pressing the phone to his ear.
"Happy birthday to us! Happy birthday to us! Happy birthday to both of us! Happy birthday to us!"
Sam's childish song ended in her blowing a loud raspberry into the speaker, and Ianto couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Sam, you idiot!" He exclaimed.
"Hey, you laughed though!" Sam said, sounding ecstatic, "now listen; I know you're not a big fan of your birthday and you don't want it to be a big deal, and I... respect that. But I was planning a little get together with everyone for my birthday, and, uh... would you come? Please? For me? It'll only be for me, I'll make sure nobody says anything to you, cross my heart and hope to-"
"Yes, Sam! I'll come!" Ianto cut her off, chuckling, "no need to start with the dramatics, I promise I'll be there. Do I need to bring anything?"
"Just your beautiful self." Sam murmured, and Ianto could practically hear the grin in her voice.
"Alright," he said, "I'll see you then."
He hung up, staring at the phone in his hand with a small smile. Sam truly was a wonderful mystery of a person.
"BIRTHDAY KISSES!" Jack yelled, snapping Ianto from his thoughts as he wrapped him up in his arms and peppered him with kisses. Ianto started laughing again, pushing Jack away from him.
"Jack! Stop!" He exclaimed, laughing so hard he snorted.
Jack kept kissing him though, and the kisses soon became passionate love making. That was all Ianto wanted for his birthday.

Sam's house was strangely dark and quiet when Jack and Ianto arrived.
"What's going on?" Ianto asked, "did Sam decide to have her party in the dark?"
Jack laughed.
"I dunno," he answered with a hint of a mischievous smirk, "let's find out, shall we?"
Ianto frowned worriedly, but got out of the car anyway and instinctively took Jack's hand in his as they walked up the driveway.
Jack was the one to ring the doorbell, and Ianto thought he heard quiet muttering and shushing noises from inside.
"Mom?" Jack called, pressing his ear to the door.
"Hey Jacksie!" Sam's voice called from inside, "c'mon in, it's unlocked!"
Jack shot Ianto a look before opening the door. They stepped into pitch blackness and Ianto felt a slight chill creep up his spine.
"Hello?" He called.
Jack turned the light on and suddenly there were balloons and confetti and people jumping out from behind furniture in all directions. If that hadn't made Ianto clue into what was going on, the deafening "SURPRISE!" that followed would have.
"What the-?" Ianto began, perplexed. Besides Sam, Jay, and their three kids, Ianto could see Gwen, Owen, Tosh, Rhys, Martha, her fiancé, and a few people he didn't recognize - probably the people Sam had made friends with in Cardiff, she was good at that.
"Sam!" Ianto exclaimed, spotting his friend walking towards him.
"Listen, I know you said not to make a big deal," Sam murmured, spreading her hands, "but the thought of you not having a real birthday party or anything, especially when it's on the same day as mine... it just made me so sad. So I thought, maybe the reason you don't like your birthday is because you didn't have the right people around you," she gestured to the people behind her, "people who care about you."
Ianto's mouth opened and closed a couple times but no sound came out. Jack put a hand on his shoulder to steady him.
"I... I don't know what to say," Ianto finally managed to choke out, "this is amazing, Sam. Thank you."
"Did I get it right? Is this okay? D-do you like it?" Sam asked nervously, rubbing one palm with her opposite thumb.
"I don't like it," Ianto murmured, "I love it."
Sam's eyes lit up.
"Really?" She asked excitedly, and Ianto nodded.
"Really."
Sam let out a tiny squeak and pulled him into a huge hug.
"I'm so glad! Because it'd suck if Jay had to cut off the part of the cake with your name on it!" She said. Ianto laughed quietly.
The evening was more wonderful than Ianto could have imagined, full of laughter and fun and a sense of contentment.
Even when Sam took a bit of frosting from the cake and dabbed it on Ianto's nose with a smirk that turned into chuckles, Ianto still smiled.
"Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to butter your nose?" Sam asked.
"What?" Ianto laughed.
"It's good luck!" Sam exclaimed, "it's tradition!"
"Is it?" Ianto asked smugly, then dabbed a bit of frosting on her nose as well. Sam just laughed harder, sticking her tongue out to lick it off.
"Okay, are we gonna eat the cake or play with the frosting?" Jay asked.
"No reason we can't do both." Sam murmured with a shrug.
It was truly the best birthday Ianto ever had.