parked | Log with Ianto: The Proof is in the Pudding

Sulu waved a hand. "We've got a while before I'm supposed to be home, pretending to be grounded, so we can just wander around, or something." He'd suggest going out into the actual city, but that might be a bad idea, given the fact that Ianto almost got lost on just the boardwalk. He'd consider it, though. There were some predominantly alien areas of the city that would probably be interesting for the other boy, after all...

Sulu almost missed the sign for the ice cream shop he was looking for, but when he saw it, he grinned and led Ianto toward it. "Here we go. Just pick out whatever you want, okay?"

Ianto smiled at Sulu's comment about pretending to be grounded. "You've got a lot more guts than I do, going out while you're supposed to be confined to the house and all," he said, with a grin, sounding...well. Impressed really. Then again, his Tad was probably more horrid than either of Sulu's parents at their worst moments, but. That was another thing entirely.

At the comment about the ice cream shop, though, Ianto turned and let himself in, holding the door open to Sulu before he turned and looked at the board of what exactly it was that was being offered there, and almost staggered because of it. "...duw," he said, as he looked at all of the options. What did he want? What most struck his fancy? He gave it a proper moment's thought, before deciding. "...black raspberry," he said, turning to Sulu. "We just. We've got vanilla and chocolate and strawberry back home, but. Black raspberry... That's something new." In a milkshake, of course, but that was a given by that point.

It was hard for Sulu to not be a little smug from Ianto's reaction to the massive selection of the ice cream shop; after all, it meant that his century was definitely doing something right. Still, he played it off as best he could, giving the menu a half-hearted look over, already knowing what he wanted. After all, he'd been here often enough to know what he liked and what he wanted right then.

"All right," he said, grinning at Ianto's decision. "Yeah, a lot of places only serve a few choices just to make things easier, but that's why we can still have specialty shops." He led the way up to the counter, ordering a black raspberry milkshake for Ianto and two scoops of peach for himself. It wasn't as sweet as other flavors, and Sulu wasn't feeling anything incredibly sweet at the moment. The order was filled within a few minutes, and soon he was handing a large milkshake over to Ianto. "Hopefully you like it, man." He was pretty sure he would, but still.

Ianto accepted the milkshake from Sulu and took an experimental sip. He nodded in approval, flushing a little. "It's good," he agreed. "I just... Have to let it melt a little first." It was probably one of the dorkiest, most embarrassing things to have to admit in his books, but brain freeze headaches were the worst and he'd rather not get one if he could help it.

"Peach ice cream, though?" he asked Sulu, nodding to the other boy's order. "Is that even...any good? I mean. It sounds pretty weird." Not as weird as some of the flavors on the list, though. Even the idea of melon ice cream was pretty rank, as far as Ianto was concerned.

It said a lot about Sulu's hobbies and preferences that he didn't find the idea that Ianto needed to take it slow with his shake weird or funny. It was just a thing, as far as he was concerned - there were plenty of people in his class that had weirder habits. (Then again, there were one or two kids who grew up on the moon, and they were always kind of weird.)

"I like it," Sulu said, shrugging. "I figured I shouldn't order something lame like chocolate or something, since, y'know." He waved a hand. "It's the future. You can try some, if you want." Even if Ianto didn't really like ice cream, he could probably handle one taste, right? Well. It was polite to offer, anyway.

Ianto raised an eyebrow at the idea of eating peach ice cream dubiously, but he knew better than to pass judgment without at least trying it for himself. He didn't really like ice cream, it was true, but one bite wouldn't give him brain freeze and well. It was like Sulu said. It's the future, and he would probably only get this one chance to visit. Well, maybe he could come back at some point. That would have to be after his father was done tanning his hide after having disappeared for the whole day, though.

"Yeah, alright," Ianto said, after a moment. "If you wouldn't mind." He shot the other boy a small smile and a shrug. "You only live once, right?" he said. Not that trying a weird flavor of ice cream was really living on the wild side, but. Hey. To each their own.

Grinning, Sulu made sure that the spoonful he was about to offer was small enough that nobody under the age of five would ever get a brainfreeze off of, then held the spoon out to Ianto. "Here you go," he said, unable to keep some of the humor out of his voice because, well. Ianto was treating ice cream like it was going to be some kind of daring act, and he couldn't help but laugh at that. "It's not super sweet, so don't worry about that, yeah?"

Ianto shot the other kid a look, making it clear that his humor was only mildly appreciated and if he went any far to make fun of Ianto trying to make fun of the situation it wouldn't be appreciated, before he took the spoon from Sulu. It was weird, sharing a spoon with another boy, but whatever, it wasn't like he was going to die from it, or anything, and tried the ice cream. It...wasn't bad. It was just weird. And it was kind of sweet, but not in the way that chocolate or vanilla was, but more...fruity. Ianto shrugged, handing the spoon back. "It's alright," he said. "Kinda weird, though, really."

Luckily enough for the both of them, Sulu wasn't about to really try making fun of Ianto - at least, definitely not about this. As Ianto handed the spoon back, Sulu just shrugged over his decision on it, taking a larger spoonful for himself. He'd shared ice cream with a few people before and it just didn't register as something weird anymore.

"Yeah, it's a little weird I guess, but I like it. But hey, at least you got raspberry and not peach then, right?" After all, Ianto didn't seem to think his own shake was very weird - then again, shakes were different.

Ianto quirked a bit of a smile at the other boy, shrugging back to him. "Yeah, I guess I made the right decision then, didn't I?" he said. He took another experimental sip of the shake, but determined he was going to have to wait a little longer before he could really get into it.

"So," Ianto said, trying to strike up a conversation that wasn't about him or awkward or anything that might embarrass him himself. "If you weren't grounded, and you weren't out with me, what would you be doing right now?" he asked, actually curious as to what the other would be up to. Hell if he knew about himself, probably going for a walk or something like that. Trying to get out of the house and away from his father, most likely.

Sulu realized he had to actually think about how to answer Ianto's question. Truthfully, he didn't do much - he didn't want to say that, but he didn't hang out with too many people, and usually when he did, they were at his house or theirs. It wasn't all that exciting, really, and he wanted to give Ianto something more than just... boring stuff.

But, he was also terrible at lying, so he finally just shrugged away his thoughtful look and took another spoonful of ice cream. "Probably doing homework, or something. I dunno, I don't really do much. Maybe be hanging out with some friends or something, but that's usually not... really interesting." He looked up at Ianto bashfully, "I'm saving all my partying for the Academy, I guess."

Ianto shrugged. "It's more interesting than what I'd be doing, that's for sure." He smiled slightly, smugly, almost. "Guess I'm just lucky that you thought to invite me over for today, then. I mean. I didn't really know what to expect from the invitation, but." He shrugs again, going to take another experimental sip of his milkshake. "It's... It's been alright. More than alright. Definitely...well. A lot better than whatever I'd be doing right now," he said, scuffing his feet on the ground a little as he did.

The fact that Sulu's attempt to prove his universe's existance had turned out to be a pretty good time for both of them made Sulu a little self-satisfied. He couldn't help it; he'd invited Ianto over to prove a point and in turn ended up having a good day out on the boardwalk, showing off to a kid from the 21st century.

"Yeah, well." Sulu scratched the back of his head briefly, "Uh, no problem. Glad the future's not boring, or whatever." The fact that he was trying (and failing) to play it cool was pretty obvious, all things considered, but he was (somehow) not trying to be cool at that moment.

Ianto appreciated Sulu not trying to play it cool around him. It made him feel better about the fact that...well. He was probably never cool ever, certainly not in the other boy's eyes at any rate, with his weird accent and his freaking out about random things and his...getting lost in a crowd, for god's sakes, what was he, a five-year-old?

"It's the future," Ianto said, shaking his head with a smile. "Think about it. I'm from right at the turn of the century. You're...what. 200 years after that? Imagine visiting somewhere 200 years in your future, and a different country that you've never been to. I mean. Not that it couldn't have been boring to be here, but. I'm glad that it wasn't." Ianto took another sip of his milkshake. "And this...is really good. Now I'm going to be spoiled when I go back home."

It was practically impossible for Sulu to imagine the world in 200 years - he figured it was going to be a lot like now, only with more technology - but he could still understand Ianto's point, at least somewhat. Ianto was interested in everything going on, and it wasn't so dull and peaceful that they were sitting around meditating or whatever - he'd seen scifi movies, after all. "Just don't tell everyone that you're pining for future food, right?" he said, laughing, "After all, I'm pretty sure they'd think you were crazy."

Ianto laughed right back at the other boy. "Don't worry, I won't. Although I'm pretty sure that most of them think I'm crazy anyway, so. No harm done there, really." He wasn't the most popular of kids, after all. Although that probably had something to do with the fact that he was just so surly all the time. He hated Newport and his life with his father and he was sure that as soon as he got the hell out of there and made a new life for himself that things would be different. He was sure.

"Well, you don't really seem crazy to me." Sulu couldn't help but at least try to reassure the other kid, but he realized that might be lame and so he added with a shrug, "Then again, I'm used to alien cultures and races, so. I might not be the best judge on turn-of-the-century normalcy."

Really though, Ianto didn't seem that bad. Kind of neurotic, maybe, or something like that - Sulu didn't always know what words he was supposed to use for what situation - but either way, he wasn't crazy. Just kind of dorky - but Sulu definitely couldn't judge on that, so he couldn't hold it against him.

Neurotic and dorky were definitely adjectives that should be used to describe Ianto, even as the fifteen-year-old that he was at that moment. He was glad that Sulu could see past that and just dismiss certain habits he had as being kind of weird, rather than seeing his habits and just dismissing Ianto himself as being weird and therefore not worth the time or effort.

"Well, I'm glad, then," Ianto said, smiling slightly. "The future must be a lot nicer about these sorts of things. Or maybe it's just Americans." He thought about it for a moment, before he cocked his head at the other boy. "D'you know... I think you're the first proper American that I've ever really talked to?"

"Really?" Sulu asked - after all, he was really used to seeing Americans. And Europeans, and various races that weren't even from the planet. The idea that Wales didn't get a lot of visitors, especially from just America, was kind of bizarre to him, considering anyone could really go anywhere nowadays if they wanted to. Of course, Sulu had never been out of the country himself, so he couldn't say much about it.

"Well. We're not exactly a rare phenomena, around here," he said with a laugh, "And we're not that different from anyone else, are we?"

Ianto shrugged, taking another sip of his shake. "Yeah, really. I mean, why would any Americans want to be in Newport of all places? I've seen a few around in Cardiff, but they're mostly tourists, and it's not like I've ever spoken to them at all. And..." He raised an eyebrow at the other boy when he asked whether Americans were all that different from other people or not.

"...are you kidding me?" he asked. "Of course you are. You're... You're so American," Ianto said, with a laugh, because that really was what they said to describe people like Sulu in Wales. "And. Let's put it this way. How many Welsh kids have you met, before me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow again.

"Well..." Sulu didn't want to admit that he probably wouldn't have noticed if someone he was talking to was Welsh or English - at least, not right off the bat. So, he shook his head. "Not any, I don't think. But I dunno what makes me so American. Then again," he took another spoonful of ice cream, "There's less of a distinction between people here than in your era, you know? Without the boundaries of war and government and stuff."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Ianto said, chewing on his straw absently as he thought about it. "I mean. I've no idea what you mean, about without the boundaries of war and government, or whatever, but. I can see how things might be different in the future. So maybe it's not that you're just so American," he said, with a bit of a smile. "Maybe it's just that you're such a spaceman instead, with your...hovercars and your peach ice cream and the likes."

Oh, right. He probably shouldn't have been talking about the Federation too much, just in case Ianto ended up doing something with it. He didn't think he would, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Hey, man, I'm from Earth, born and raised," he said, dropping the topic of the Federation, "So I'm not a spaceman. And peach ice cream can't be that new, it's pretty basic as far as flavors go." He took another spoonful to prove that it was normal to him. Not that that would prove it was normal in general, but there wasn't much he could do for that one. "I can't help it if cavemen haven't invented it yet."

"Oi," Ianto said, elbowing the other lightly in the side, laughing slightly and shaking his head. "I may be from the past, but I'm better than a caveman. We do have electricity and cars and the internet and everything. It's not like...y'know, the greatest invention yet known to man is fire or anything like that."

He paused for a moment, before shrugging. "No, it's alright. I mean. It's pretty cool, everything here. Aliens and space travel and the sort." He glanced sideways at the other boy, suddenly realizing something. "So wait. If there are aliens here, that means that...there are humans out there on alien planets? There are people out there that live in space? That there are people out there that aren't from Earth?" He should have made the connection a while ago, but for some reason it didn't occur to him until just then that that was even a possibility.

"Says you," Sulu replied, because ice cream flavors were important, damn it.

He couldn't help but give Ianto a look at his sudden revelation, nodding along slowly with what he was saying. "Well, uh, yeah. Of course there are people not from Earth - I thought we covered that with the alien part. And there are people on the moon, and ambassadors on other Federation planets, so... yeah." He shrugged, a little surprised Ianto was only just realizing this.

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