torchwoodinstitute | Welcome to the Hub

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Welcome to the Hub

Who: Gabriel and Mohinder with appearances by Jack Harkness and JC.
When: July 20, after this thread of doom.
What: Mohinder and Gabriel accept Jack's invitation and join Torchwood.

Mohinder might as well have had his hands and nose pressed to the ass as the SUV descended on the platform from the plaza above. The Hub was darker and less clinical than he had imagined from the way Jack had spoken briefly about Torchwood Institute. The walls were either brick of off white ceramic subway tiles, shaped like a massive tube around a central core. Walkways and stairs connected levels above and below them and rooms seemed to jut off from the main area like the spokes of a wheel.

No wonder Jack called it a Hub.

Wide eyed and half confused, when the car stopped moving, Mohinder jumped out of it to examine the winch system and try to find the opening they had slowly dropped through, though that had disappeared. He gripped the yellow industrial lift control box, which looked like something out of a warehouse or a mine, and frowned at the buttons.

"I was expecting something more... Futuristic, I suppose," Mohinder muttered to himself and set out around the catwalk, trying to look both up and down at the same time.

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A choice? Honestly, he had no idea what to choose. "Can we see the options...?"

It made Jack laugh and he dug into his RAF coat, one Gabriel might eventually find hanging on an old fashioned coatrack by the door of his office, until he came up with three keys. "High rise, beautiful city views. Second floor walk up. Cozy and close to good dining. And.." Yes. He hesitated. "A one bedroom by the sea, close to the underground but with a nice garden."

He handed the keys specifically to Mohinder.

"The addresses are on the fobs."

"Thank you," Gabriel replied sincerely, smiling down at the keys. He'd noticed the hesitation and wondered, a little, about that. And he wondered whether either of these apartments had been recently vacated.

Well, he appreciated it, regardless. It had been a long time since he'd looked at moving in anywhere. It was nice to have the opportunity to be excited. "Can we go take a look now?" He was sure there was plenty more to go over, and he'd be fine if Jack had more pressing issues to talk about. But the idea of going home someplace was extremely satisfying.

"We can talk about salary and do the paperwork tomorrow," Nack said with a grin. Yes. Paperwork. He ran a reputable company!

With permission to do as they liked, Mohinder pocketed the keys and offered his hand to Gabriel. "Then shall we?" Mohinder was as excited to explore their new city as he was to explore the Hub and their new employment. He wanted to know and see everything and he wanted to do it with Gabriel.

"Oh and books stay here. Torchwood material stays in the Hub but you can look at it whenever you want... And that goes for the bear, Mohinder."

That made the Indian blink. He hadn't even realised that he was still cuddling it!

Gabriel hadn't even thought about salary, much less doing paperwork to join up here. So he sort of blinked and nodded at that statement. At least it could wait until later. And hey, he was actually going to get paid! That had been awhile.

He laced his fingers together with Mohinder's as soon as the man offered his hand. It felt good to have the contact, and the reassurance that yes, they were both pretty pleased with this development. He thought Mohinder wanted to go check them out more than he did, even.

He nearly chuckled to see Mohinder somewhat dumbfounded to be still holding that bear. "I figured it'd all stay here." He started stacking the books in a very particular order. "You don't happen to know Gallifreyan, would you, Jack?" he asked, off-handedly. He wasn't really expecting much, considering it was the language of a people all but dead, but if anyone knew it'd probably be Jack. "I'm hoping to translate these. Who better than a watchmaker, right?"

"Time Lords are-- Were-- A secretive bunch. He never taught me." He hadn't even taught Rose and he was pretty sure Rose was the end all and be all to him sometimes. But she was gone now too. Well, not gone. Just not here. They met up for drinks sometimes when their dimensions crossed by that wasn't often.

Torchwood ate up their lives.

"But have at it all you'd like. We have a lot of old Gallifreyan books you could translate for us."

Half an hour later and Mohinder and Gabriel, armed with keys and some taxi money, headed to the first apartment in the heart of the city, decked out and modern and utterly spotless. Cardiff reminded Mohinder a great deal of London and the view from the corner unit with it's floor to ceiling windows in the bedroom was absolutely exciting.

Fearless, Mohinder leaned back on the glass and gazed up at Gabriel. "Our neighbours could watch, if you're adventurous."

Modern and spotless both appealed to Gabriel. This place was a lot fancier than he was expecting. He stared out of the windows with approval, until Mohinder caught his entire attention. The statement made him turn pink with a blush- Mohinder was quite forward, wasn't he? But that didn't mean much as he immediately walked over and pressed his lips to his boyfriend's, opening his mouth to lick those wonderful, soft lips.

He pulled away after a moment, but only slightly. It was just enough to say quietly, practically under his breath. "You're more adventurous than me- at least when it comes to this. But you know? I'm willing to go anywhere you want to take me." He realized the double entendre a little belatedly and gave Mohinder a breathy chuckle. "Is this why you wanted to see both places? You hoping to 'try them out' first?" He leaned in again to kiss Mohinder on the neck, slowly working his way up to the ear.

There was little in life that was better than kissing Gabriel Gray, of that Mohinder was sure of. He kept his arms low, to wrap around his boyfriend's waist, eyes bright. In a week, it would be hard to tell he had suffered so from the last encounter the Company sent him on. A week more than that and he would be willing to prove his flexibility in other areas as well. He pressed his nose to Gabriel's chin when he pulled away to delight in his scent while he spoke.

"Are you capable of trying out beds three times in a row?" he teased. "Your stamina might be better than mine."

They would need to get some items while they were out then. And he didn't meant just milk and bread and new tea cups. His hands reached around to squeeze the other man's ass.

"Perhaps we might be better off to see the lot before we make our choice and enjoy three times in the same bed?"

Mohinder's bright eyes were what captured Gabriel's attention this time. He often longed for someone to look at him like that, like he was the center of their world and it couldn't make them happier. It made him feel like he'd made the right choice to stay here instead of running fruitlessly after Peter.

Mohinder's squeeze to his backside made him jump slightly and shiver with anticipation. "That'd probably be better, yes. I want to make sure everything's settled, and then we can celebrate. No worries about stamina." He tugged lightly on Mohinder's earlobe with his teeth. "I'm starting to see that waiting's the hard part, here."

He ran his hands lightly over Mohinder's shoulders, then pulled back slightly. It was enough for them to break apart and follow their plan, but he hadn't pulled away completely yet. Of course, this meant he had an extremely good look at Mohinder's face, which was nearly irresistible. "Good thing I've learned patience," he muttered, leaning down to kiss him on the lips again. He didn't notice that he wasn't pulling away quite yet, which was somewhat undermining his statement.

One might think that they hadn't seen each other in some time the way that they were carrying on, but they were alone here and with no one to bother them and a good future on the horizon, there was nothing to stop them from taking their time and enjoying one another.

Eventually, as much as he wished it wasn't so, Mohinder decided that it was time to explore the neighbourhood a bit. It was really quite nice here, the lofts were beautiful, but the area felt too rich and high end. Mohinder also had a more homey aesthetic and white walls with polished chrome was not it.

The more young couple neighbourhood with outdoor cares and lots of coffee shops was much better. The second floor walk up wasn't too bad either though the place was small and the furnishings bare.

There was a tiny kitchen and a tiny bathroom and Mohinder immediately wrinkled his nose. "I'd like to be able to do more than make grilled cheese."

Gabriel could tell that Mohinder wasn't particularly happy with either of these places, giant windows or not. The second one would've been perfect if he'd been on his own, which instantly made him dislike it. "So no on this one, then. Too bad we saw the nice neighborhood first." He didn't sound too broken up about it. "Let's check out the last one."

This was quite a bit less hectic than he expected today to be. As they left the apartment and started heading toward the one by the sea, he reached for Mohinder's hand again. "I'm feeling downright domesticated, looking at apartments with you. Thought today would be more strange gadgets and assigned rooms."

"We got to play with talking, emotional toys and books in alien languages," Mohinder laughed. "Baby steps." He let his fingers lace with paler, larger ones as they headed down to the underground towards the water. Jack was right. The last place was only a few stops away and very beautiful. He could hear the water and there were the promise of seaside cafes and restaurants and shopping not too far. This was less an apartment than it was a small cottage and the garden was meticulous.

Mohinder handed over the key to Gabriel. "Would you care to do the honours Mister Gray?" He asked, cheeky

Gabriel would be getting quite a lot from that key... Late nights of Jack and that younger man that had flashed upon him when touching the coffee machine kissing and fumbling for the key to get it in the lock, for instance. Evidently there was a reason why Jack had hesitated.

This was Ianto's home.

Gabriel grinned at Mohinder as he took the key, but the memories made him pause for a moment. It was long enough to be noticeable, and his grin had disappeared. He shook his head. "Sorry, just getting some memories. I'm fine. Let's take a look."

He'd like to touch the ground near the garden, see who'd been keeping it up. But he suspected he'd be getting more memories than he wanted here. He'd have to let Bridget know that he was having some of the same breakthrough issues she did, when he felt safe emailing her again. She'd wondered about that, the last time they talked.

Well, there wasn't much to do about that now. He'd just have to keep working on increasing his control. He put the key in the lock and opened the door.

Mohinder didn't press, as curious as he was. Gabriel's grasp of that particular power didn't seem as strong as the others and he never wanted to try and force and issue to speak about why that might be. Perhaps if he had been able to speak with the originator of the ability he could understand better but it was best to let sleeping Companies lie.

And so Mohinder stepped into the charming, well kept little Welsh city cottage, beaming. The colour scheme was reds and white and felt both modern and still quite homey all at once. There was a small sitting area followed by a dining room and kitchen separated by a breakfast bar and large windows letting into the light. The bathroom looked recently renovated and had side by side sinks. There was a large bed in the master bedroom, a den and a small second bedroom in the back.

Mohinder pulled open the closet doors in the main bedroom and gawked at the space, the built in suit racks and the tie and shoe shelves.

"Perhaps we'd have to find more ties for you. I rather enjoy them on you myself."

As he suspected from how pleasant the garden was, this was it. He walked around slowly, careful to keep his hands off things for the moment. It was cozy while still being open, quite clean except for some small amount of dust in a few places. He could still hear the ocean if he listened for it.

The place itself was actually larger than he expected, and more space than he was used to having. It took him a few minutes to walk all the way through it, and he came to the main bedroom last. He whistled low as Mohinder opened those closet doors- that was a fancy closet.

And congratulations, Mohinder. He'd just ensured that Gabriel would wear ties pretty much constantly in the future. "You do?" he asked, eyes widening slightly. "I had no idea. Guess we will."

With a smile, he wrapped an arm around Mohinder's shoulders. He would've gone lower, but he was still trying to be mindful of those cuts and bruises, healing though they were. "So this is the place, then?" he asked, fairly confident Mohinder would agree. "We'd better tell Jack we'll take good care of it, he was close with the last person who lived here."

Mohinder's hands immediately went up to the arm and held Gabriel there, body leaning back against the other man. "Do you like the first better?" Because he did like this place but he knew Gabriel certainly preferred city living. While this was still in Cardiff itself, it was away from the hustle and the bustle, away from the traffic, and Mohinder wanted Gabriel to be a place where he was most comfortable.

He'd grown up in an overcrowded third world country (albeit extremely well off) and so he could deal with the city just fine...

Even if he really did prefer something quiet.

It did startle him to know that Jack had offered them the place of that person JC had been speaking about, however. He craned his neck to look at Gabriel, somewhat concerned.

Mohinder's expression was understandable. Gabriel couldn't quite feel the same. He had tried to forget that he lived half the past year by taking naps in motels and the beds of those he killed, their rotting corpses one or two rooms away. He still had to acknowledge that he had no right lingering on the dead. So his expression was rather unreadable for a moment, then he shrugged. "I know, but- Jack made the offer to us. It has to be all right with him."

He turned, looking at the rest of the bedroom, and waving with a sweeping gesture. "So I think we should take this one. I like it about the same as the first, and a change of pace would be good for me. I can tell you like this one better, too. I might pick up the occasional memory, but that's always true. Plus, I'll get some practice in with the ability."

He stepped closer, bringing his face close to Mohinder's. He smiled gently at him. "So what do you say?"

"I say quite a few things," Mohinder teased, turning so he didn't have to arch his back. "Though in this particular case, I believe a simple 'yes' might do." Even Mohinder's simple yeses took two sentences to get out! It was lucky that Gabriel liked that about him. "And I also say that we have some things to clear out and possibly return to Jack."

He didn't want to sleep in a dead man's sheets or use his mugs. No, rather, he didn't want Gabriel to share them with him because of the memory factor. Mohinder was ready to make new memories.

"And I say that you'd better kiss me or I'll likely say far more," he teased.

Yes, changing items out was a very good idea. He was about to say as much, but then Mohinder gave him something of an ultimatum. "And what if I said I could be happy listening to you read the phone book, because your voice is just that perfect?" Gabriel never used the word 'perfect' lightly, either. "Your ultimatum isn't terribly effective," he added, smirking slightly. But he leaned in for a kiss, anyway.

Mohinder's lips were soft and dry as they pressed against his own. Gabriel quickly upped the ante, opening his mouth and lightly brushing his fingers over Mohinder's neck and ears, then gripping the front of the man's shirt as he pressed forward even more. His kiss became intense, needy, and wanton.

And then, just as quickly, he pulled away, a teasing glee in his eyes. "So we've got some shopping to do. We should probably go grab the things we need for tonight. Then we can settle in." those things included new sheets, probably some groceries, and definitely some other items that would go unmentioned. He had just needed a taste of what was to come, especially since they'd both gotten a bit worked up in that first apartment.

Mohinder had half a mind to wrestle Gabriel's pants to his knees but did think better of it for the time being. That kiss had taken his breath away with his words and he was only now just realising what he had said about his voice. Mohinder was rather pleased by that and as they moved about the house cleaning up things that Gabriel might not care to touch (both in gloves found under the sink) to put in boxes, he chatted softly away about things of very little consequence.

While making eyes. Because he could. Thankfully, his current state of bruising wasn't an issue with the way Gabriel looked at him! That wolffish grin had on d been terrifying. Now it was something else all together.

There were several boxes to deliver by the end of the afternoon but Mohinder suggested that they leave them. "Torchwood has a car we can borrow. Shall we return the other keys and make this new home ours?"

They both were very efficient, the looks they gave each other spurring them to work even faster. Gabriel's fastidiousness meant that they didn't miss anything while they cleaned up, and the gloves meant that he didn't accidentally touch anything that looked like a memento, or that looked well-used. He could've used telekinesis for most of this, but carrying things side by side with Mohinder actually felt more natural, to his surprise.

He'd practically forgotten about that SUV- he grinned and nodded. "Let's go." This would give them a chance to warn Jack that items were incoming- plus, he didn't know if Jack actually knew about the clairsentience, since that was a recent acquirement.

They took the Underground back to the Wales Millenium Center. Gabriel stared at the fountain appreciatively before finding his way to the tourist center they'd been shown on the way out. "We could actually use some of these," he said of the various brochures on and near the desk, looking amused. He'd feel like a tourist for quite awhile, he thought.

"This feels a bit like when I was younger," Mohinder said as he shoved some brochures into pockets that barely had room for a wallet or phone. "I was engaged once, an arranged engagement between my family and hers. Fairly common even now in India though typically the arrangements are made while a couple are dating. We started at a pharmaceutical firm together and moved away to Mumbai."

He pressed in the code Jack had given them to work the door and waited for it to open so that they could head into the HUB.

"I'm rather amazed you appreciate the way I speak. I've been told, and often, that my pillow talk had little to be desired." Mohinder laughed in that velvety musical way of his as he turned the small curve in the wall only to be confronted by a tall blond haired and blue eyed man.

Jim had been twirling in a chair at the control screens watching the camera feed from the unmanned visitor center (an alarm had gone off when someone entered) but it took him a moment to really focus on the paler of the two men in the shot. So when the door opened, he'd grabbed a gun, shoved it in the back of his pants, and got ready to try to explain this place away in case his eyes were deceiving him.

But they hadn't been.

"What the hell are you doing here, Spock?!"

He was a little surprised to hear that Mohinder had an arranged engagement, but clearly that hadn't worked out. That little piece of information did make him realize that he didn't know much about Mohinder's past, other than the few things Chandra had told him in between tests. He'd ask when they had some downtime.

Gabriel was equally amazed that Mohinder didn't know he had an amazing voice, especially with that laugh right afterwards. "Well, they clearly don't--"

His intended compliment was cut off by the man in front of them, who looked very much like he'd seen a ghost. Gabriel glanced at Mohinder, his brows furrowing. "We...work here? Or at least, we will, starting tomorrow. Guess Jack hasn't had enough time to fill everyone in."

Gabriel wanted to get the best first impression he could manage with these people. So despite his confusion, he held a hand out for shaking. "I'm Gabriel Gray, this is Doctor Mohinder Suresh. Good to meet you."

"Yes, a pleasure," Mohinder was saying before the blond did his wander in a half arc around the other man. He wasn't interested in Mohinder at all (Mohinder was getting use to this and stepped aside). His eyes were only for Gabriel.

Was this someone else Sylar had wronged? He did call him but a somewhat similar name. Another pseudonym? Like Zane Taylor had been? Mohinder had tried his best not to let it get to him. Jumping to conclusions would help no one.

"Cut the crap, Spock. It's me," Jim all but pleaded. "I didn't think I'd even see you again!"

Gabriel didn't take very well to being circled, and raised an eyebrow at the man while turning to follow him.

"Spock? I've never heard of him." That was a bit of a strange name, but he knew he should expect strange once they got into Torchwood. And it was strange that this man was still insisting, even after getting a good look at him.

He spared a quick glance at Mohinder, and shook his head, shrugging a little. Mohinder had no idea either, that was obvious. And he looked a little peeved. Great.

Turning back to the blonde, he sighed slightly. "Do I really look like this guy?" There weren't a ton of people with his build and facial features. He knew that- he had to go a bit out of the way to be inconspicuous at times, after all.

"Do you-- Okay, I know you're not him. He doesn't have a sense of humor," Jim replied, still looking mildly worried before he reached out to take Gabriel by the ear and run his finger over the smooth, rounded edge of it. He stepped back after a moment, clearly disconcerted, and bit his lower lip.

Mohinder wasn't really sure that he liked this particular brand of questioning and so he slipped between the two. He was good at that, getting in the middle of things.

"Uh...excuse me... Hi. Who are you?"

Jim only offered Mohinder a glance. "James T. Kirk. Time Agent." He shook his head at Gabriel and then offered Mohinder his hand. "Sorry. I knew this could happen but...your friend looks exactly like my First Officer."

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