parked | Log with Ianto: Date Night

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Log with Ianto: Date Night

It was strange, really, how much effort Sulu had put into preparing for this date with Ianto. His usual modus operandi was to comb back his hair a bit, throw on a tee-shirt and jeans and just, well, show up. No flowers, no chocolates, no presents, just a casual sort of attitude that usually worked wonders to make the whole situation less stressful for both parties.

But. Ianto was not part of his usual style and Sulu found himself taking twice as long getting ready as he did for anyone else. Hell, he'd even went shopping for clothes he'd never normally wear (with Gwen, who he was pretty sure enjoyed putting him through the wringer when it came to Ianto), put effort into how his hair looked, took three double-glances in the mirror - Jesus. It was only a date.

With Ianto. The guy who had this uncanny ability to make him feel like his awkward fifteen-year-old self just by grabbing his hand.

At least he had an excuse for the gift - he'd told Ianto that he'd bring him a plant, and it was Ianto's birthday present, anyway, so it wasn't like this was specifically date-related. He could still pretend to be at least a little casual about these kinds of things. You know, despite the fact that his stomach twisted into knots as soon as he called Ianto to make sure that no last-minute Torchwood business had come up.

World hopping, luckily, did nothing to mess up his hair (not that you could really mess up the generic look it always fell into when he tried to style it), nor did it cause the plant he had in hand to wither, wilt, or otherwise be destroyed. He'd gone out of his way to find a nice pot for it, something a little more futuristic than traditional terracotta, since Ianto would appreciate that more than tradition. Hopefully.

After all, this whole date was pretty traditional. Sulu even went for the front-door approach, which he hadn't done since his girlfriend in senior year of high school. He shook himself out a bit for a second, minding the plant, so he could get rid of some of the jitters he was feeling, and then rolled his eyes at his own idiocy and just went for knocking on the door, before he could get himself even more worked up than he already was.

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Ianto had to laugh at Sulu's mock-begging. "Only if you behave yourself. If you behave, then there won't have to be any guilting from me or yelling from Jack or anything of the sort." He smiled at Sulu. "I don't think that there'll really be any trouble from you, though. Not really. You've behaved yourself so far, after all."

"I know there are worse organizations out there," Ianto said. "Torchwood used to be one of them. Torchwood One, that is. The branch that I used to work for, before..." Had he mentioned the fall of Torchwood One? He doubted it. It really wasn't a topic he'd want to bring up with Sulu here, though, not when they were supposed to be enjoying themselves, so he glossed over it. "Before I transferred here to Torchwood Three, that is." Which was sort of the truth.

"But no, I mean more... More the fact that I work for Torchwood, which is just as busy and as dangerous as your job is, after all. Another hoop that we have to jump through in order to finally arrange for situations like these. Or, well. Dates. That is..." Ianto blushed again, turning his eyes up to look at Sulu, "assuming you're on for more. I... I was sort of getting the impression that you were, after all."

Briefly, Sulu wondered if Ianto had any idea how much trouble Sulu was actually capable of in this kind of situation (this kind of relationship), but he refrained from asking or thinking too much about it. Ianto really didn't need to know, especially since he was right: Sulu had been behaving himself. Watching what he said and everything, taking criticism from past dates to heart.

Still, he had a feeling Ianto wouldn't be entirely opposed to a little trouble-making, but. Probably not in public.

He'd heard bits and pieces about Torchwood One, and Sulu knew well enough that that was not a story for this setting, so he smiled and let the conversation wind on. "I think I would definitely like to see more dates in our future," he said with a grin. "But really, don't worry about it. Both of us have intense jobs, but we'll figure out how to make this all work. We're doing pretty good so far, I'd say."

"Well, then. It's good to hear that we're both in agreement on the more dates front, then," Ianto said, with a smile. Honestly, he'd be looking forward to a night where they could stay in now, more than anything, having gotten a little taste of what that would be like a few weeks ago with his visit to the Enterprise. "I hope you aren't looking to visit more pubs all the time, though," he joked. "After a while, you're going to start to realize that they're all pretty much the same."

"And yeah," Ianto said, with a grin, finally moving to take another drink of his ale, "we are. Doing pretty well, that is. I mean. Aside from the whole picking a day for this date thing, I don't really know that we've had any trouble at all, touch wood," Ianto said, putting his hand down on the wooden table they were sitting at for a moment. His British was showing, as it was, unconsciously, a fact in itself that showed he was relaxed with the situation.

"At least a dozen more," Sulu said with a grin, his expression clearly indicating that he was hoping for more than a dozen, that was for sure. "And no - as nice as this place is, and as fun as it is to be out in this century, I really wouldn't care what we might do later on." Whether it be wandering around, sitting at the Hub, or relaxing at Ianto's - he wouldn't care. Of course, Ianto had made it clear that at least one of these dates of theirs was going to have to happen on the Enterprise, and that... that could be fun as well.

Sulu was secretly a pretty superstitious person - not enough to bring it up in public, but enough that when Ianto put his hand to the table, he knew exactly what it meant, why you did it and why he completely agreed with the act. "Yeah, don't want to jinx that right on the first date," he grinned, "But honestly, other than work, we shouldn't have too much of a problem arranging time together." That, and Jack - but honestly, Jack was okay with this, so that wouldn't be a problem.

Ianto's reaction to Sulu's words was a slow-blooming smile. "There's plenty of things that we'd be able to do," Ianto said. "This is a whole different century for you to explore. There's bound to be dozens and dozens of options there." Dozens of options that, judging by his smile, meant a separate date for each one of them, and Ianto was fine with that. He was more than fine with that.

"And no, I guess work's our only obstacle," he said, thinking on it. "Which is extremely lucky for us, really." It was too bad that the pair of them both lived and breathed work, though. Then again, there was still enough room in Ianto's life to make room for Sulu to be there as well. He wasn't too concerned about it, in that moment.

He ate some more chips off the platter in front of them, and realized that they'd all but finished the platter, and their drinks. "Was this enough for you?" Ianto asked, motioning to the food and drinks. "I mean, we can always order more, if not." Ianto himself wasn't too terribly hungry, but that was probably to the excitement about what seemed to be everything in his life that was bubbling up from inside of him.

"A lot changes in 200 years," Sulu said in agreement, "I'd like to see what we're missing out on." It'd be neat, to see all the things that have gone out of style since this century, to see if there were things that should have stuck around. It'd be even nicer to know that he was experiencing things that Ianto experienced - and that he'd be doing it with the other man.

"I think I'm okay," Sulu said with a grin, having pretty much eaten his fill. "And we can move around work. I have breaks and days off, and you have times when things aren't too crazy, so." His thumb stroked Ianto's hand briefly. "We're in pretty good shape, all things considered. Besides, we're patient enough guys, we can figure it out."

"Yeah," Ianto said. "I mean. Well, technically, most of my days are pretty casual. I have a lot of chore type things to do around the Hub, mostly, so. That's alright. It's only the fact that there's no guarantee what day will bring something that I need to be there for and what days won't have anything at all that's really the issue, with Torchwood."

"But you're right," Ianto said. "We'll figure it out. I mean, we did it this time, didn't we? And we had space bears and UNIT meetings to contend with. I... I won't say that we won't have things of a similar sort to have to work around in the future but. That's got to give us some hope, right? We've done it once, we can do it again, and all."

"Anyway," Ianto continued along his question about the food, then, "should I pick up the tab, then, or do we want to stick around a while longer? Not that I don't like sitting and talking to you, that is. I just feel bad for holding the table when we've finished." That and well. He would like a few moments together in private, before Sulu had to go, he realized. He wouldn't say that aloud, it would sound to presumptuous of him, but. It was true nevertheless.

"Hey," Sulu said with a shrug, "You know, I can help you with some of the load. At least," he added with a bashful smile, "I can when it comes to the hot house. If you need an extra pair of hands, I mean, and barring I'm not on duty, I'd like to help you out." And maybe that was partially because he wanted to see a little more of the aliens Torchwood had to deal with, because he had a concern that maybe the alien life they encountered were from his universe, somehow, but the most pressing intention was to help Ianto.

"And..." He glanced around, taking in the pub for a moment, before looking back to Ianto - his expression changed as he really looked at the other man. "...Yeah, I think we can go. Don't want to hold anybody else." Besides, Ianto had a perfectly good couch at his flat. Right?

Ianto blinked. He hadn't even thought of that, that he had the option of roping Sulu into some Torchwood work as well. Or, at least the botany work. "...would that be alright?" he asked, almost unsure about it. After all, involving Sulu in Torchwood, even just with the plants, that would have him in the Hub when some of the most dangerous things possible could go down. Rift flares, invasions, attacks on Torchwood... Who knows what could happen. "You already have one job, I mean. You'd just be working on your time off then. And... There's always the danger that something could happen..." Ianto fretted.

Ianto absentmindedly signaled the waiter for their check, and it was quickly at the table. He stuck one of his credit cards in the folder, and the waiter left to take care of it. Ianto, however, was fixated on the idea of Sulu coming to help out with the plants at Torchwood, being there while he worked sometimes. "Not," he added quickly, realizing how it might sound, "not that I don't want you here. I mean, I do. I just... Are you sure?"

Sulu had a feeling that he could probably handle the dangerous situations that Torchwood had to deal with. Ianto probably knew that too, logically, being that he now knew what kinds of things Sulu had to deal with on away missions, but he still sounded a little hesitant.

"Checking on plants really isn't work for me," he said with a smile, "Remember? I'm a botanist. It's my hobby. And I've been in hand-to-hand combat with Romulans on top of a planetary drill before - it's not like I don't know how to handle crisis situations." He decided to hold off mentioning any of his other exploits, so as to not sound like he was bragging. "Plus, you could always teach me how to feed the pterodactyl." Sulu obviously thought that was a brilliant idea. Then again, Sulu tended to turn into a five year old when it came to things like dinosaurs or mythical creatures.

Ianto paused and really thought about it. He supposed it wouldn't be too bad having Sulu in the Hub. He was a trained fighter, after all. Certainly more than Ianto was himself. And with the plants. "We could probably really use your help with the plants. Half the things in there, we don't even know what they are. It's all just guess work as to how to take care of them, and I'm no green thumb when it comes to any of this, I'm afraid."

Ianto had to smile at how excited Sulu seemed to be about Myfanwy. He had to admit, though, that she was pretty amazing. It wasn't every day that you got to see a real, live animal that should have gone extinct hundreds of thousands of years ago, after all. "If I remember correctly, she seemed to like you, when you met her," he said, speaking fondly of Myfanwy. "I mean, she didn't attack or push you off the ledge or anything. I. I guess we could try having you feed her, sometime. It's..." he laughed. "It's not exactly pretty, but it is rather fantastic, if you focus on the fact that she's a bloody pterodactyl, and all."

Ianto was glad that he'd finished his sentence, because it was around that time that the waiter came back with their final bill. Putting his neatly scrawling signature on the bottom of the check, he took his card back and stuffed it back into his wallet, leaning forward to shove his wallet back into his pocket. He tilted his pint backwards and finished the last dregs of the ale he had, before turning to Sulu. "Are you good to go, then?" he asked, suddenly feeling bashful. After all, they were going back to his flat, and things would be a lot more private there, and possibly... Something akin to butterflies started up in his stomach, despite the calming effect of the alcohol.

"Well," Sulu said, allowing himself a moment of bragging, "If there's one thing I can do as well as piloting, it's taking care of plants. I might even know what some of them are - or, at least, know what they're like." That seemed to be the common thread, after all - all plants could be related to one another, if you tried hard enough. (Except for Audrey, but that was beside the point.)

And as for the dinosaur that Ianto took care of - well, Sulu didn't care about dirty eating habits nearly as much as he worried about the idea of falling off the damned ledge. But, he needed to get over that fear eventually, and he was pretty sure a dinosaur could trump it. "I've seen worse, probably," was all he said, which was good since the waiter was back. Smiling as Ianto signed his name, he reminded himself once again that they were going back to Ianto's flat - his nice, quiet flat without people around.

"Yeah," he said with a smile - okay, a smirk - "I think I'm good."

Ianto smiled and led him out of the pub and into the street. It had gotten colder, and there was the definite smell of rain in the air, but it seemed to have fallen and stopped for that moment. Ianto didn't know whether he was grateful for that, or disappointed, honestly. Ever since that day in the rain he'd... Well, he'd appreciated it a lot more than he had previously. It was still something of a nuisance, though, considering how often it happened.

The drive back was short and pleasant. Ianto mused on feeding Myfanwy, explaining how they sometimes let her out into the countryside to terrorize the sheep and stretch her wings, and how they'd created the special 'barbecue' sauce to indicate what she could and couldn't eat, as a way of training her not to eat the computers or, well, Torchwood members in general. He might have been babbling a little, but it was because he was trying not to focus on the fact that they were going to be alone together. After their date. And how that usually meant, well... It meant that something might happen.

It wasn't until Ianto was unlocking his door to the house that he really paused, his brain glitching a bit, stuck halfway between extremely excited and extremely nervous about all of this. "Ehm," he said, "do... Do you want to come in for a bit, then?" he asked, blushing. "Before... Before you have to go back, that is..."

Sulu listened to everything Ianto said, finding the whole process of owning and caring for Myfanwy really interesting and, like Ianto did, a good distraction from the fact that they were going to be alone in Ianto's flat shortly. And... the fact that Sulu, since the moment he got into the car for the ride back, had a serious longing to just reach over and kiss the other man. He was comfortably buzzed, which only made it harder to distract himself from that thought.

Once they reached the front door, Sulu noticed a hesitation in Ianto's step, and he had a moment of pause himself before Ianto asked the question that he'd been partially expecting since they left the restaurant. He knew he probably shouldn't, because he might say something stupid or make a mistake, but. "Yeah, sure," he said easily, because it could never be said that Sulu didn't like taking risks. "I'd like that."

Ianto smiled back at him, and let him in the door, tossing his keys on the table in the hall put there specifically for that purpose. He would try and offer a refreshment, but. They'd just gone out to eat, and they really shouldn't have much more to drink if they weren't wanting to regret it all later...

Shit. What... What to do? "Would..." he started, stumbling over his words, the alcohol's liquid courage effect abandoning him in that moment, "would you like something to drink? I mean... There's. I've got water, or. There's always coffee..." Ianto could have kicked himself. Offering coffee? It was like a default, or something, for him. It would give him something to do to be less awkward, but. Sulu was probably fine the way he was in that moment. Ianto just suddenly had no idea where to go from there, so. He was fretting, like he was known to do.

Sulu followed Ianto in, hands in his front pockets as a preventitive measure against him trying to grab Ianto. He should be polite and patient, and probably only get the sort of making out they'd already done - which was fine by Sulu, really.

He could tell from the stammering, and from Ianto's expression, that the other was more nervous than he probably wanted to be; it was probably for good reason, but Sulu's immediate thought was that he was expecting Sulu to be expecting something, which really just wasn't the case. He almost said yes to the coffee, just because it seemed like the thing Ianto chose to do when he felt awkward, but as he opened his mouth, he changed his mind.

Reaching for Ianto's hand, he shook his head. "I'm good. Relax, okay?" He smiled reassuringly, and gave Ianto a tug towards the couch. "If you want to make coffee," he added after a moment, "I mean, if it helps you relax, I wouldn't say no, but I. Sort of just want to relax with you for a little bit."

Sulu really didn't need to tug Ianto that hard to send him following after him to the couch. Ianto was pretty much floundering, there, and was immensely grateful that Sulu had recognized that and reached out to save him from himself yet again. Ianto let out a breath, willing some of the nervous tension out of him, and tried to do as Sulu instructed and just relax.

He shook his head, smiling sheepishly. "No, it's... It's alright. I. I don't have to make coffee all the time. It's just kind of my default," he explained, gripping Sulu's hand back. "I. Relaxing with you would be good. I mean. I want to." If he could relax in that moment, yikes. He seemed to be responding well to Sulu patiently and gently taking charge of the situation, though, so. Maybe more of that could happen?

His knees knocked against the edge of the sofa, and instinctively, he sat down, Sulu's hand still in his, tugging the other man gently down with him despite the fact that it was Sulu who'd led them there in the first place. "Sorry," he apologized, "I. This is my first time bringing a date home like this in a long time. I. I guess whatever level of suave I used to have is pretty much zero, at the moment," he said, with a little smile.

"I got that," Sulu said with a hint of humor in his voice, "But don't worry. I like your coffee, so I don't get put off or anything by you offering to make it." He sat easily, almost immediately letting his head droop so that it was resting on Ianto's shoulder, pulling their intertwined hands onto their knees. As much as he wanted to grab hold of Ianto and kiss him and possibly never leave, he was surprisingly comfortable with just this level of affection for the time-being.

When Ianto apologized, though, Sulu moved his head to look at the other, smiling fondly. "I don't need you to be suave or anything like that. Just remember that it's me you're with, not some blind date." After all, Sulu and Ianto actually knew each other. There was no reason to be awkward, as far as Sulu could see. (That hadn't stopped him from being nervous all night, of course, but Sulu was trying to practice what he preached, at least.)

Ianto smiled a little at Sulu's little bit a of joking. "I should hope you like it," he said quietly, joking back at him and relaxing a little more as Sulu laid his head on his shoulder. "If you don't like my coffee then I'm afraid there's no hope for you and the beverage ever working out."

At Sulu's telling him to remember that it was just him that Ianto was with, he ducked his head, blushing, before turning to look up at Sulu bashfully. "I think it's because I know you that it's making me this anxious, honestly," he said, sheepishly. "I mean. I don't want to mess up what we already have, as it is. And then, well. I'm ridiculously excited about what there could be to come. With a blind date, there really wouldn't be any sort of expectation there, but with you..." He laughed, shaking his head, squeezing Sulu's hand. "You really do make me feel like some silly teenager with their first crush, you know. It would be awfully embarrassing, if. If I didn't enjoy your company as much as I do."

Ianto's honesty made Sulu blush a little himself, smile turning into a dumb grin and hand squeezing Ianto's back. It took him a minute to compose himself enough to say anything, because it had been a while since anyone had ever said anything like that to him.

"Ianto," he finally said, sitting up to twist on the couch, so he could be facing the other man, "You're not going to mess up anything. If anything, you should be worrying about me messing it up." He leaned forward a bit, then paused and said, "But at least I know that I'm returning the favor, making you feel like that." After all, that was pretty much how Sulu had been feeling about this from the get-go.

Ianto smiled, turning to face Sulu a bit more than he had been as well, leaning forward, cocking his head to look up at Sulu a bit sideways, still a bit bashful, especially at the fact that he'd just made the other man blush, which he didn't think happened all to often. At least not as often as he blushed himself, that was.

Ianto... He wanted to kiss Sulu. Or he wanted Sulu to kiss him. He didn't really know which, but. He wanted something to happen there. He just had too much happy, nervous energy pent up inside him, and it was going to drive him up the wall if he waited and nothing happened. He reached out a hand to play with the lapels of Sulu's blazer, admiring the fabric, using it as a distraction so that he wouldn't be staring at Sulu from what really wasn't all that far away, considering how close they were sitting. "It's nice to know that we're in the same boat here, nerves-wise," Ianto said, softly. "I'd hate to be the only one looking a fool in all of this, after all."

Ianto's hand on his jacket made him pause, half-expecting the other to use his grip as a method of pulling Sulu closer, then made him smile. That faint tinge on his cheeks that Ianto had put on him stayed right where it was, and he almost closed his eyes, sort of basking in the closeness.

The tone of Ianto's voice made Sulu exhale a sigh, enjoying the low quality. On top of Ianto's blushing, he apparently also had a thing for his voice. And his eyes, which was now where he looked, and possibly his mouth too -

"You haven't looked like a fool to me," he said slowly, then decided to hell with it and leaned in to capture Ianto's mouth in a soft kiss.

Ianto sighed into the kiss, simultaneously relaxing into it and clutching at Sulu's jacket at the same time. He'd been nervously waiting for this, then he wanted it, and now that it was actually happening... Ianto loved it. It wasn't the first time that they'd kissed, but it was their first kiss after having gone on a date, and well. That had to be something entirely different, right?

He brought his other hand up to rest on Sulu's shoulder, almost on his neck, just bracing himself there, gathering courage from the solid presence of the other man underneath his hands. He was very glad that his mouth was otherwise preoccupied in that moment, because he'd probably be saying some pretty stupid things, otherwise. Like how he was pretty sure that if he could, he would be floating in that moment, how high he was on life. And how much he really did like Sulu, which was actually sort of frightening to him, considering the fact that they'd really only been on one date so far, and this was only the second time they'd kissed.

Sulu shifted to lean closer, keeping the kiss soft, relishing in it more than he had the last time they'd kissed. Not to say he hadn't thoroughly enjoyed it, but this - it was different. It was romantic and not desperate or anxious, fueled only by the nerves they had when it came to this new change in their relationship, the dating and the flirting and the hand-holding. Before, kissing had been the way to assure both of them that everything was all right; this was more par-for-the-course, more... understandable. After all, not everyone made out just to make sure that the other was really there.

Sulu slid an arm around Ianto's shoulders, both to keep him close and to encourage him forward; his other hand reached across them to rest against Ianto's neck and jaw, putting just a little more pressure into the kiss - it was still definitely lighter than the one they'd shared before, but there was absolutely no trace of hesitance.

Ianto did pull forward, both because of Sulu's arm around his shoulders and just because he wanted to, clutching at Sulu's blazer all the while, finding that it was convenient to have something like that to hold on to.

This was nice. Softer than Ianto was used to, usually. Not that Jack wasn't capable of being quiet and gentle about these things, but. That was usually more for when one of the two of them needed comfort, and not just because they could. He and Jack definitely enjoyed each other's company, and well, each other, but. Not like this. This was different. This was...

Ianto couldn't put his finger on it exactly. It's not like he liked one of them over the other. True, he'd known Jack for longer, and he knew that he probably actually really was in love with Jack, but. He still couldn't in his right consciousness say that he liked Jack better than Sulu, because they just brought out different sides to him. Ianto tilted his head into the kiss, gently urging Sulu on. He wasn't quite ready to step up and take the reins himself just yet, but he certainly didn't mind Sulu doing it for him.

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