Title: Too Much Noise
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Owen, Ianto, Nosy.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1031
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Owen has a hangover and Nosy is making far too much noise.
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 323: Squeak.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.



Squeak.

Squeak squeak.

Squeak squeak squeak.

Groaning pitifully, Owen pressed his hands over his ears but it didn’t help; the incessant squeaking was still clearly audible and every squeak seemed to drive a sharp spike of agony through his aching head.

“For pity’s sake, can’t somebody make that infernal racket stop? I’m dyin’ here!”

“Feeling a little fragile today are we, Owen?” Ianto set a mug of coffee and a couple of painkillers on the medic’s workstation. “Maybe this will teach you not to polish off almost a whole bottle of wine by yourself, on top of whatever liquid courage you’d already downed.”

“I already paid for it and Tosh only had one glass. Wasn’t going to waste it, was I?”

“Apparently not.”

Owen glared blearily up at Ianto from one bloodshot eye before reaching for the painkillers and knocking them back with a mouthful of coffee. He’d taken Tosh out the night before on their first proper date, and he thought it had gone pretty well, although there were parts of the evening he didn’t remember too clearly. In retrospect, maybe the four double Scotches before the date, the wine with dinner, and the brandy after might have been a bit too much, even for him. Especially since he’d cut way back on drinking over the last six months or so.

“You’ve really only got yourself to blame.”

“I know, no need to rub it in.” Owen pillowed his head back on his folded arms, hoping the painkillers wouldn’t take too long to work, then whimpered as the squeaking started up again. “Oh God, please make it stop!”

Squeak. Squeak squeak. Squeak.

Ianto glanced around. “Doesn’t seem to be bothering anyone else.”

Squeaksqueaksqueak.

“Only ‘cause nobody else has the hangover from Hell. Whose stupid idea was it to get squeaky toys for your new pet anyway?” Owen winced, sticking his fingers in his ears, for all the good that did. It felt like he was poking them directly into his brain so he pulled them out again. The noise hadn’t stopped.

Squeak squeak. Squeak.

“Yours, I believe; the day we brought Nosy back here I distinctly remember you saying that dogs liked toys that squeaked so Fluffs probably would too. Turns out you were right; Nosy really loves its squeaky dumbbell, and the squeaky dinosaur you gave it.”

“I must’ve been out of my mind.”

“Par for the course; you and Jack are both too impulsive for your own good.”

“Couldn’t you at least confiscate the noisy toys? Just until my head stops feeling like it’s about to explode?”

“Owen, how can you even suggest that? How would you feel if I took your favourite toys away when you weren’t doing anything wrong?”

Squeak. SQUEAK! Squeeeeeeak.

“Please! I’ll do anything, just make the noise stop before I start bleedin’ from my ears!”

“Anything? Does that mean you’ll finish your overdue paperwork without me having to nag you about it?”

“Yes! I’ll get it done as soon as I can think straight, I promise!”

“And you’ll stop putting your experiments in the fridge where we keep our food?”

“I only do that because the fridge in my lab isn’t big enough.”

“Nevertheless, it’s unhygienic. You’re a doctor, you should know that.”

“Fine, if you insist; no more experiments in the fridge. Anything else?”

“I believe that’ll do for the moment. Very well, I’ll have a word with Nosy, see if it would be willing to play more quietly or take its toys elsewhere.”

“Whatever, just shut it up. Either that or put me outta my misery,” Owen’s mumbled from beneath folded arms. All he wanted was a bit of peace and quiet so he could suffer in silence.

Ianto made his way over to the break area, where Nosy was ‘hiding’ half under one of the sofas, squeaking one of its toys, experimenting with different amounts of pressure to make different sounds. Sitting down, he reached out a hand to ruffle the thick green fur.

“Nosy?”

A furry head poked out from under the sofa. “Hum?” the Fluff enquired politely.

“Owen isn’t feeling well, his head hurts very badly. He’d really appreciate it if you could make less noise.”

Nosy looked at where Owen was slumped across his desk. The Fluff was fully bonded to Ianto and Jack, it had developed a strong connection with them when it had first met them two weeks ago, but its connection to the other members of the team was not fully developed yet. It had been dimly registering discomfort for a while but until now hadn’t been aware of its source, perhaps too caught up in its game to pay as much attention to the people around it as it should have.

“Hummm,” it said mournfully; it hadn’t meant to cause anyone pain.

“Not your fault,” Ianto assured it. “You weren’t to know. Owen doesn’t always take care of himself as well as he should.”

“Hmm.” Disappearing under the sofa again, Nosy retrieved its dinosaur and slithered to its play area, where it put the squeaky toy away, instead picking up a large plush purple duck that Tosh had given it. It slinked quietly up to Owen’s workstation and pushed the duck onto his lap, humming soothingly.

Owen raised his head a few inches and cracked open his eyes, trying to focus, frowning at the Fluff and then at the thing in his lap.

“Oh. Thanks.” Picking up the duck, he set it on his desk and rested his aching head on it. “Yeah, that’s much better.” Reaching down, he scritched the top of the Fluff’s head, relishing the lack of noise. The Hub was almost silent now aside from the quiet hum of the computers and he relaxed as the pounding in his head gradually began to subside.

Humming almost inaudibly, Nosy stayed there, head on Owen’s knee, doing what it could to ease its friend’s discomfort.

Headaches and squeaky toys didn’t mix; in future Nosy would remember that and play more quietly if someone was hurting. It would never want to cause its new friends pain but they were so fragile. Clearly it still had a great deal to learn about humans.


The End